Vizag’s Sahithi Varshini moves one step closer to Grand Master title

The 18-year-old young talent from Vizag, who is tipped to be one of the future champions, has also earned 36 FIDE rating points to improve her ELO to 2287

Hyderabad: For Moogi Sahithi Varshini, it is like moving one step closer to realising one of the biggest dreams for any chess lover – to be a Grand Master.

This FIDE Master Sahithi achieved her maiden Woman Grandmaster norm in the Golden Horse IM tournament in Hungary, scoring six points from nine rounds. A campaign which was also noted for the Vizag girl’s impressive win against Hungarian IM Varadi Viktor and draws against IMs Popovics Adam and Bence Daniel.

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Importantly, this 18-year-old young talent, who is tipped to be one of the future champions, has also earned 36 FIDE rating points to improve her ELO to 2287.

For the last couple of years, Sahithi has been pretty consistent with her performances, including winning the Asian championship titles (under-10 and under-12), besides clinching the Commonwealth championship gold (under-10).

One of the high points of her career was when Sahithi represented India in the prestigious Chess Olympiad in Chennai a couple of years ago.

“Getting the first GM norm is a great motivating achievement as I look ahead and aim to win the WGM and the GM ( in men’s section) titles,” Sahithi informed ‘Telangana Today’.

“My strength is my ability to fight for victories against strong Grandmasters, a quality that defines her style of play,” she said.

Like the famous Koneru Humpy-Koneru Ashok daughter-father combine, Sahithi owes her career to her father-cum-coach Moogi Lokeswara Rao,a National-level PSPB chess player and her trainer since childhood. Some of his other trainees include the talented Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy, who recently became an International Master (IM).

Looking ahead, Sahithi said she would be preparing for closed tournaments in Hungary this November, which will be crucial for her title journey.

Currently, Sahithi is getting support from Pravaha Foundation for taking part in tournaments and hopes that increased support would only help her cause.

“Yes, the ultimate target is to make it really big in chess and continue the rich legacy of Indian chess, which has produced so many world champions,” she signed off.