Anish Sarkar Can Barely Reach the Chessboard
Anish Sarkar is a young genius who started his journey, from learning chess on YouTube to impressing Grandmasters, all while balancing his love for French fries and Peppa Pig. A delightful look at a toddler’s unexpected talent and his family’s grounded approach to nurturing his potential.
In a world where children his age are still grappling with the finer points of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” three-year-old Anish Sarkar is grappling with far more complex puzzles—on a chessboard. To reach his designated chair during a chess tournament, he’s got to clamber onto four stacked chairs. But this diminutive dynamo, still toddling around in his “diapers,” now boasts a FIDE rating of 1555, which has left the chess community rather gobsmacked.
FIDE, for those not in the know, is the grand authority of the chess universe—organising tournaments, overseeing rankings, and bestowing titles. But while this rating is enough to make most adults preen with pride, it’s little more than a random number to young Anish Sarkar, who was too busy running around his home preparing for Diwali to even bat an eyelid.
“ Anish Sarkar plays because he enjoys it,” says his mother, Reshma Chatterjee, as though it’s the most ordinary thing in the world. For Anish, all the pomp and fanfare surrounding his newfound chess fame are just a bit of background noise; his focus is more on asking for his special “French fries” treat for the day.
According to Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua, who serves as the vice-president of the All India Chess Federation, achieving a FIDE rating this young, especially with only six months of training, is almost unheard of. “Usually, it takes players anywhere between two to four years to get a rating,” Barua says. “This boy’s got something special, no doubt.”
Anish Sarkar ‘s chess journey began in the most unassuming of ways. A couple of months before his third birthday, his mother presented him with a chessboard—not because she thought she had a genius on her hands, but because she needed something to keep him occupied. “I needed a game he couldn’t swallow,” she laughs, choosing large pieces that would be safe for his chubby little hands.
In the beginning, Anish’s teachers weren’t Grandmasters or seasoned coaches. They were far more digital, found on YouTube. “When he’s not watching Peppa Pig, he’s watching chess videos,” Reshma shares, explaining that no other screen time seems to hold his interest.
While his chess moves continue to impress, young Anish also has a curious fondness for numbers and mathematics. “He can count backwards from 100, and at one point, he’d memorised multiplication tables up to 25,” says Reshma, clearly bemused at her pint-sized mathematician.
When Anish was three years and two months, his parents decided to try his luck at the Dhanuka Dhunseri Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy. At first, the academy was reluctant; they generally don’t admit anyone younger than five. But his parents pleaded for a trial, and after watching him whiz through a few tricky problems, Barua relented. “We realised he had a gift,” Barua admits. The academy welcomed him, but not without a few words of caution: the road to mastery is a long one, and it requires commitment.
Since then, this tiny chess enthusiast from St. James’ School has been shuttling to and from the academy a couple of times a week. His schedule is enough to make most adults need a strong cuppa. On training days, Anish sets off at the crack of dawn, spends the morning at school, then heads straight to the academy, returning home only around 10 p.m. His mum and he take a long journey home, catching the Metro at Netaji Bhavan, then a bus to Kaikhali.
“It’s a lot for a boy his age,” his mum admits, “but he loves playing seven, even eight hours a day. We’re proud, of course, but we don’t want him to feel pressured. At the end of the day, he’s still just a child.”
Reshma and her husband, a schoolteacher, are careful not to heap any expectations onto their young prodigy. They know he could lose interest in the game someday, and they’re fine with that. For now, they’re happy to watch him learn and grow, one move at a time.
As for Anish, his only concern is if he, as a newly minted rated player, might make his opponents a bit jittery. Here’s hoping the chess world is ready for this cheeky little challenger—stacked chairs and all!
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