Last Updated:December 12, 2025, 07:10 IST

Concerns have been formally raised with the international chess federation, alleging that the child’s rating may have been secured through violations of fair-play norms.

A week after a three-year-old from Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, made global headlines for becoming the youngest player to earn an official FIDE rating, his feat has come under scrutiny.

Concerns have been formally raised with the international chess federation, alleging that the child, Sarvagya Singh Kushwaha’s rating may have been secured through violations of fair-play norms.

A complaint submitted to FIDE claims that the boy’s historic achievement was influenced by “clear violations of FIDE’s fair-play principles by coaches,” suggesting that the circumstances surrounding his rating games were irregular.

The letter further alleges that all three opponents he defeated, matches that enabled him to enter the global rating list, were coaches from the same academy where the child trains.

“It appears that the rating was achieved through unfair means, involving clear violations of FIDE’s fair play principles by the coaches or individuals supervising the games,” the complaint notes.

FIDE, which does not disclose details of ongoing fair-play reviews, neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the complaint.

However, the boy’s father, Siddharth Singh Kushwaha, and coach Nitin Chaurasiya acknowledged they were aware of the allegations.

They rejected the claims outright, attributing the controversy to factional rivalries within Madhya Pradesh’s chess circuit.

The state federation has been operating under an ad hoc committee for several years, and local disputes, they said, have now spilled over into the national spotlight.

“In Sagar, the local chess association is split into two groups. One faction is targeting the other, and my son has become collateral damage,” Kushwaha told The Indian Express.

“They are trying to discredit his achievement for political reasons.”

The young prodigy had gained national attention after notching wins against far older and higher-rated players, including Abhijeet Awasthi (1542), Shubham Chourasiya (1559), and Yogesh Namdev (1696) across tournaments in Khandwa, Indore, Chhindwara and Mangaluru.

The complaint counters this narrative, asserting that Awasthi, Chourasiya and Namdev are themselves coaches at the same Sagar-based academy where the boy trains.

The family and coach have described this as mere coincidence.

“Just because these players are from Sagar and familiar faces doesn’t imply wrongdoing,” Kushwaha said.

“Yes, they run academies, and so do I. They are competitors, not collaborators.”

Another allegation concerns a tournament where both the child and Namdev reportedly joined after the official draw had been generated by FIDE’s electronic system.

Their names were added manually, a standard procedure for late entrants, and they were paired together, a match the three-year-old won.

The complaint also claims Namdev lost on time because he left for the washroom in the final stages of a 10-minute rapid game.

The coach refuted this claim as well. “It wasn’t just my son; several children arrived late and were paired manually. There was nothing unusual,” Kushwaha said.

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