A promising young chess talent from India has become the first from the country to qualify for the 2027 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship. The 19-year-old from Chennai earned the spot by leading the opening stage of the 2026 Freestyle Friday Championship.
The former junior world champion joins Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Vincent Keymer in the open section, bringing the confirmed entrants to five for the eight-player event.
After 19 weeks of online competition, the player topped the open standings with 60 points to secure participation in the 2027 championship at the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort in northern Germany.
