8-Year-Old Tamizh Amudhan Defeats World No.7 Vincent Keymer: A Game Against All Odds
It was a rainy night in Sivakasi, and there was a power cut, but it didn't stop 8-year-old Tamizh Amudhan who was born on 2nd of September 2017, from playing Freestyle Friday on Chess.com. The laptop was on, the mobile hotspot was connected, the candle was lit, and the spirit was high as usual. It was 8:30 PM IST on 1st May when Tamizh Amudhan got paired up against World No.7 Vincent Keymer, who recently qualified for the Freestyle World Championship 2027 after winning Grenke Freestyle 2026, and guess what happened? Check out the game in this article.
Tamizh tricked Vincent!
The game itself is a perfect example of Tamizh's resistance; he had a really bad position out of the opening, and Vincent missed a mating combination to finish the game. Most players get nervous when they notice they could have lost a few moves ago, but this was not the case with Tamizh. He came back from a losing position and played a solid sequence of attacking moves to win the game.
You can see the boy's dedication in this picture, sitting on the floor with his laptop on a pillow. His dad, Sathish, is sitting there to keep an eye on his talented son.
And finally, the candle in the bottom corner, helping to keep some light on, but the brightest source of light isn't that candle, it's the boy Tamizh himself!
Check out the what happened in the game
Out of 960 possible positions in Freestyle Chess, randomly position no. 880 was chosen for the 1st round of Freestyle Friday, and Tamizh was playing with black pieces against Vincent.
Tamizh played 9.Ne8, and Vincent could have won the game right here with 10.Bxh7 (The Greek Gift Sacrifice), but he castled, and that gave Tamizh a chance to avoid this checkmate.
Vincent was on 57 seconds, and he just took 1 second to play this move, and it turned out to be a huge disaster as Tamizh found a brilliant attacking idea starting with 22.Nh4 followed by 23...Rg6 and eventually winning the exchange after a few moves.
Tamizh finished the game in style by playing 44...a5! and Vincent resigned here.
Check out the full game
Check out the latest interview with Tamizh
Supported by Hatsun Chess Academy
70 kilometres away from the Madurai airport is a place named Thiruthangal. It is home to the Hatsun Chess Academy - a one-of-its-kind residential chess academy. Supported by the CSR activities of the Hatsun Agro Products Pvt. Ltd, one of India's biggest dairy-related companies, and powered by the vision of GM Vishnu Prasanna and his team, this is sure to create new champions in the country.
Hatsun Chess Academy is now fully sponsoring Tamizh Amudhan
The billionaire who has a vision for chess, Chandramogan, Chairman of Hatsun Group
Tamizh was just four years old when he first learned chess. His first exposure to chess came from his cousins, who had themselves only recently begun playing the game. Tamizh quickly began showing an instinctive understanding of the board.
Tamizh's parents have done immense sacrifice to support his training. His mother lives with him, nearly 350 kilometres away from home, while his father stays back with his sister. The family has happily embraced this arrangement so that Tamizh can pursue his chess career.
Check out the Amazing story of Tamizh Amudhan: Here
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