11-year-old Ethan Vaz of Goa has become the World No.1 in the Under-12 category in Blitz Chess, which is the fastest format of the sport.
Ethan increased a whopping 184 Elo points at Silver Lake 2023 Open Blitz tournament in June, where he defeated 3 International Masters (IMs), amongst others, and clinched the 4th place award amongst 122 players. In July, he pumped up his rating by an additional 208 Elo points at the International Open Blitz Championship in Paracin, where he defeated 3 IMs, 2 GMs, and 1 FM and finished joint 1st with a performance rating of 2543 and clinched the Silver Medal on tie-break, amongst 144 players. With an astonishing increase of a total of 392 Elo points, Ethan’s Blitz rating now stands at 2371 in the FIDE Rating List (FRL) published in August 2023, making him the World No.1 in his category.