5-year-old Aarini Lahoty becomes India's youngest female FIDE-rated player

Aarini Lahoty, at 5 years and 10 months, became India's youngest female FIDE-rated chess player with a rating of 1551, marking yet another incredible moment for Indian chess.

Lahoty, who was born on 19 September 2019, is from the National Capital Delhi and currently studying at the Bluebells School International.

She has now bettered the record previously held by Udhriti Bhattacharya from West Bengal, who got her FIDE rating of 1421 at the age of 6 years and 4 months in May earlier this year.

Aarini had recently also played the National U7 Girls championship, finishing with 3 points from the 9 matches.

India's young chess players have been on an upward graph and have been rewriting history in every tournament, which included 4-year-old Anish Sarkar, who became the youngest FIDE-rated Player last year.

Anish achieved this feat at the age of just 3 years in November 2024, which also led him to become the youngest recipient of Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in the 2025 National Sports Awards list.