When the seven-round Diamond Fire and General Insurance Women’s Chess Championship Qualifiers ends today at the School of the Nations, Georgetown, the winner is likely to be either former women’s national champion Sasha Shariff or Jessica Callender.
At the time of writing this column, Shariff was leading with 3½ points and Callender was in the second spot with 3 points. Shariff had scored three victories and one draw. The draw was against Callender, who had drawn two games.
Internationally, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) has named five-year-old Tejas Tiwari of India its youngest chess player on its rating list. Tiwari is a kindergarten student who played his first FIDE-rated tournament when he was four. Now at five, he is an accredited member of the FIDE family and is rated at 1149 points. He learned chess from his father at 3½ years old and entered a competition six months 
later. He has participated in five tournaments and won titles such as “Golden Boy” and “ Youngest Star” . Tiwari was born on December 25, 2017. He practices chess for about two to three hours per day. He has said that one day he wants to qualify as a chess grandmaster, and, eventually, world champion.
I am inspired by this story, and trust it will inspire others to learn and practice chess.
