Dubai: Six-year-old prodigy sets chess world record

A six-year-old Dubai student has set the world record for the youngest to solve the maximum online chess puzzles in a limited period of time.

Veersen Jain, a student of Gems Our Own English High School, Al Warqa solved 49 chess puzzles in one minute and 30 seconds online. The International Book of Records has recognised his new world record as the ‘Maximum no. of online chess puzzles solved by the youngest kid.’

The Indian child prodigy loves to play chess and has won many tournaments in India, US and Dubai.

Jain, who started playing chess from the age of three, has been coached at Master Chess academy by Grandmaster Haridas and for the Chess Cup UAE by his mentor Tanush. He is known for his lightning-fast speed at solving puzzles.

His mother was the first to notice his passion for chess and laid the basic foundation at home by getting him puzzle books. After that, he started playing chess at home with his family and relatives, who are all fond of the game.

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Seeing their son excel in the game from a young age, his parents encouraged him to learn and inspire others.

“We helped him remain focused on playing chess which improved his speed and accuracy and simultaneously also helped him with word spellings. We would dedicate at least an hour every day for him to hone his skills,” his mother told Khaleej Times.

Little Veersen recently won in the under-18 category at the Chess Cup UAE tournament and became the first runner up at the ISB International Spelling Competition 2021, winning multiple rounds at the preliminary, regional, and international levels.

He has won the Royal Spelling Bee competition 2021 at the UAE level, and last month became the youngest to read 7,540 pages in two months in a reading challenge organised by the reading app Browzly. He won the title of ‘Highest Reader in 5-7 years’ category” at the Browzly 2021 Summer Reading Challenge.

His father, Vikas Jain, told Khaleej Times that Veersen was an avid reader and had also built his own small library at home.

“So far, he has read over 300 books; his Lexile score is quite good for his age. He likes to read different genres and is fond of exploring new things. He has also memorised many Jain religious songs and couplets since the age of 3,” he added.

- saman@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai