15-Year-Old Indian Defeats World No. 1 Carlsen, Keeps It Low-Key
What Happened
15-year-old Vandan Alankar Sawai from Delhi shocked the chess world by defeating world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in Chess.com’s Titled Tuesday online blitz tournament on August 18. The Candidate Master, rated 2,288, capitalized on a rare mistake by Carlsen and won in 50 moves. Remarkably, Vandan did not celebrate publicly and even his parents and coach learned about the victory only later.
Key Takeaways
Despite one of the biggest wins of his young career, Vandan remains undecided about pursuing chess professionally, saying he may also explore fields such as history or political science while continuing to aim for the International Master title.