Aansh Nandan Nerurkar is on Cloud 9. At the age of 11 he has achieved something which should make every Indian proud. Aansh has proved that he is the future prospect for India in the game of Chess at the international level. Recently, at The sixth edition of Prague International Chess Festival 2024 Aansh invited all the attention. This tournament was conducted in Prague, Czech Republic at Don Giovanni Hotel from 27 February 2024 to 7 March 2024. This was organized by Novoborosky chess club in Prague, Czech Republic under the aegis of Czech Chess Federation under patronage from the European Chess federation affiliated to FIDE (International Chess Association). Five times Chess World Champion, Vishwanathan Anand from India was the ambassador for this event.
Actually, this Chess tournament was conducted in Three sections – Masters, Challengers and Futures having 10 players across the world based on Fide rating and age criteria in round robin fashion in each section. Five Indians were playing in these events. GM R Praggnanandhaa, GM Vidit Gujrathi, GM D Gukesh were playing in the master section having 10 participants having average fide rating of 2711 while WGM R Vaishali was playing in the challenger section having 10 participants having average fide rating of 2546 and the reigning 36th National Under-11 Open 2023 champion, Aansh Nandan Nerurkar was playing in the Futures section having 10 participants having average fide rating of 1773.
There were 3 players from Czech Republic, 2 from Poland, 1 each from USA, Greece, Germany and Slovokia in the futures section competing with Aansh for the title. Aansh won this prestigious Prague Chess tournament’s future section tournament after scoring 8 points out of 9 rounds with 7 wins and 2 draws. He remained undefeated in this tournament and gained a massive 132 Fide rating point.
Aansh was born on 4 Oct 2012 in Margoa, Goa and he is currently studying in sixth standard in the Borivali Branch of The Orchids International School. He started playing Chess from 2018-19. He is currently trained by Mr. Prasad Deshmukh from Borivali, Mumbai.
Aansh has represented Maharashtra State in chess at various National tournaments. Some of his exemplary achievement in other Chess tournaments are as follows –
- National Gold Medal (1st Position) in 36th National Under -11 Open Chess Championship held at Visakhapatnam, Andhra from 1st to 7th October 2023
- National Bronze Medal (3rd Position) in 34th National under-10 Open chess championship held at Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir from 26 April-1 May 2022. He lost the gold medal by a whisker in this tournament as his last match was drawn by the opponent.
- 4th Position in 35th National Under -11 Open Chess Championship held at Gurugram, Haryana from 29th October to 6th November 2022. What makes this achievement more special as Aansh is just 10 years old for this tournament which is 1 year less than the age criteria capping specified.
Aansh is expected to raise his International Chess ratings to 2236 when the updated rating list is expected to be published on 1st April 2024 due to his dominating performance at Prague Chess Tournament in Future’s section. With this published International Chess rating, Aansh will also become eligible to get lifetime title of “Candidate Master” (CM) from the International Chess Federation in April/May 2024. Magzmumbai wishes him all the best.