May 03, 2026, 09:40 IST
CHENNAI: Rain lashed Thiruthangal, a neighbourhood in Sivakasi, all of Friday night. The power had been cut since six in the evening, plunging the area in darkness. But inside one of the modest houses, an eight-year-old boy, with just a candle flickering beside him and a mobile torch lighting up his laptop screen, was logged in to the Freestyle Friday online chess championship.At the other end of Tamizh Amudhan’s resolve, in all the ambient lighting that the first world brings, was World No. 7 Vincent Keymer, with an ELO rating of 2759.Balancing the laptop on his lap, playing with black, Tamizh stunned the 21-year-old German in the opening round of Freestyle Friday, a popular weekly 11-round Swiss-format blitz event featuring several titled players. Tamizh managed to play four more rounds, winning two, before his laptop battery finally sputtered away.World No. 1 in the under-9 category — in Feb, he became the youngest player to cross the 2000+ Elo rating mark — Tamizh hails from Kallakurichi. For the past year, he has been living in a rented house in Thiruthangal, 350 km away, to avoid long travel and train regularly at the Hatsun Chess Academy, located in the temple cum industrial town.Speaking to TOI, Tamizh’s father Sathish Arumugam explained how they improvised in the dark and used their phone’s hotspot and mobile data to stay online.“We returned from Hatsun Academy around 6 pm, when the power cut happened due to heavy rain. The tournament was at 8 pm, and there was only around 48% charge left on the laptop. So, we knew he could manage three or four games,” Sathish said.Sathish revealed that his son was undeterred by the situation. “Tamizh still wanted to play, the power cut didn’t bother him at all. He said he would play as many games as possible till the battery died.“He loves blitz. And to beat a player like Vincent Keymer — he had just 14 seconds left while Tamizh had about a minute, it felt really good. All the hard work and effort we put, it felt good to see that result,” added a proud Sathish.“It’s a very jolly feeling. No, I wasn’t worried when the power went,” Tamizh said, before going back to watch the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.The youngster took to chess at the age of four, and his family has made a lot of sacrifices to support his journey. His parents take turns staying with him in Thiruthangal, nearly 350 kilometres from home, to ensure he can train without disruption.Over the past year, Tamizh has built an impressive record, winning four silver medals and a bronze at the 27th Asian Youth Chess Championship 2025. We also know now that rain and thunder cannot stop him.
