3-year-old chess player catches opponent's technical mistakes at U19 tournament

In game 4, Group A of the U19 Tata Steel All India Open rapid chess tournament on November 13, Sarkar played black against 11-year-old Jahnavi Ghosh. In the endgame, the 3-year-old player had the upper hand, as he had more rooks and pawns. However, Ghosh refused to surrender and continued to play, hoping for a draw.

At one point, Ghosh wanted to call for a draw in a losing position, but Sarkar refused. The three-year-old then stood up and reached towards his opponent, taking the queen and promoting the pawn on b1. The 11-year-old player’s final move was to king b7, but the square was occupied by the black queen. Therefore, this move was considered illegal.

Sarkar immediately stopped the clock, stood up, raised his hand and shouted: "Referee, foul number two".

Ghosh saw this and conceded right before the referee arrived.

According to FIDE's Laws of Chess Article 3, the "second foul" Sarkar refers to is moving the king onto a square that is under attack by an opponent's piece. Such moves are considered technical fouls. In many rapid and blitz tournaments, a player can be disqualified for making just one technical foul. But some tournaments allow three technical fouls before being disqualified.

Sarkar not only demonstrated his chess skills, but also his understanding of the rules of chess. He immediately detected his opponent's technical error, and followed the correct procedure of stopping the clock and calling the referee to judge.

Sarkar was the youngest player to take part in the tournament, and after seven games, he had three points, ranking 147th out of 255 players in the group. The group also included international masters like Mayank Chakraborty and Shahil Dey.

Sarkar was born on January 26, 2021, and is the youngest player in history to have an Elo FIDE rating of 1,555. World number one Magnus Carlsen (Elo 2,831) was once amazed by the 3-year-old's chess ability.

"My nephew is only four years old and is quite intelligent, but he is still far from reaching 1,500 Elo," Carlsen said. "Sarkar's current level is fantastic. My advice to Sarkar is to continue to enjoy playing chess and not worry about the coefficients, results or titles. Because those things will come to him soon."