CHENNAI: Women’s Candidate Master Sharvaanica AS has made the country proud by winning gold and being crowned the new world champion in the Under-10 Girls category at the FIDE World Cadet Championship, which concluded in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

It was a slow start for the World Rapid champion, who lost the opening round but came back strongly with nine consecutive victories to finish with 9 out of 11 points and secure the top prize.

Sharvaanica was the only Indian player to be crowned champion from a national contingent of nearly 30 participants, in a tournament that saw players from over 90 countries.

In the final round, she faced a tough defeat against Zhou Abigail from the USA. Meanwhile, Nandinjiguur Chinzorig from Mongolia drew her game on board two, also finishing with 9 points. However, as the first tie-break criterion was the result of the direct encounter, and Sharvaanica had defeated Nandinjiguur earlier in the tournament, she was declared the champion.

With this victory, she becomes only the third Indian to win the Under-10 category, following in the footsteps of Grandmasters Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh.

The triumph also brings valuable rating points to the young prodigy and grants her direct qualification to represent India at the FIDE World Cadet Chess Championship 2026, the FIDE World Youth Chess Championship, the FIDE World School Chess Championship, and the Commonwealth Chess Championship.