On Friday, April 18, 11-year-old A. S. Sharvaanica, bagged her FIDE World Rapid Under-12 Girls’ title. She secured the title with two rounds to spare and a total of 10.5 points out of 11 rounds. She finished the tournament with three points followed by runner-up Zhansaya Sholpanbek (7.5) of Kazakhstan.
The victory came after defeating Slovenia’s Ema Jaksa in the ninth round. This is Sharvaanica’s second world title. Previously she had won a gold medal in the U-10 category in 2025.
The Indian young chess player from Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu, is a Women Candidates Master (WCM). The game was held in 11-rounds in which Sharvaanica won 10 and ended with a draw.
Sharvaanica had entered the tournament as one of the top seeds with a classical rating of 2041. She started her campaign claiming a win in round three over Alisa Yunker. She continued her decisive run by securing three successive victories. On Thursday, April 16, she secured her lone draw in Round 7.
On the second day she secured the win over Mariya Shakhova and continued to strike harder and ended in winning the title.
The Candidates win is Sharvaanica’s second World Rapid title. She had earlier won a gold in the U-10 category at the age of nine in the blitz event at the FIDE World Rapid and a silver at the 2024 Blitz Championship in Albania.
Sharvaanica is one of the fastest emerging and as India’s bright young chess prodigies. Fresh from her U-10 World Chess Champion 2025 victory, she has several Asian and Commonwealth gold medals to her name.
