Five-Year-Old Aarini Lahoty Becomes Youngest Indian to Secure FIDE Ratings Across All Formats

• By Thetripurapost Desk, New Delhi
• Sep 01, 2025
• 532

Aarini Lahoty, a five-year-old chess prodigy from Delhi, has made history by becoming the youngest Indian to earn official FIDE ratings in all three formats of the game — classical, rapid, and blitz.

Born on September 19, 2019, Aarini now holds ratings of 1553 in classical, 1550 in rapid, and 1498 in blitz, making her the first 2019-born player from India to achieve the feat.

Her father and coach, Surendar Lahoty — who runs the IGSF Chess Academy in Delhi and teaches physical education at Bluebells School International — credited home-based preparation for the success. “We made her play tournaments in all formats, tried to get her used to the same time patterns, and only then sent her for official tournaments. Now that her ratings are published, we are very happy,” he said after FIDE released the latest ratings on Sunday.

Aarini’s training involved practising under official time controls — 15+10 in rapid and 3+2 in blitz — so that she was tournament-ready at any moment. “Even today she played a local event where she won the Under-7 category and finished second in the Under-16,” her father added.

Remarkably, Aarini had already become India’s highest-rated player in her age group in August, across both boys and girls born after 2019. Her early talent was visible from the age of one, when she began setting up chess boards on her own while watching her father conduct online classes during the lockdown.

With India witnessing a golden era in chess, Aarini represents the youngest wave of the boom that has produced stars such as R. Praggnanandhaa and D. Gukesh. Looking ahead, her father has set ambitious goals: “We want her to become India’s youngest International Master and Grandmaster, and make everyone proud.”