The 7-year-old chess prodigy CM Kush Bhagat

Mumbai's Kush Bhagat added a new feather to his cap on Tuesday by becoming a Candidate Master (CM), a title awarded by FIDE. Achieving this title at the age of just seven years is a great feat.

The second standard student of Hill Spring school and a trainee of South Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA) has been in a great form since the last six months. The campaign started with the Under-7 Maharashtra State Chess Championship 2016 title and continued in the world school Under-7 Blitz tourney where his performance has caught the eyes of every expert.

Seven-year-old Kush made his presence felt in every tournament thereafter with creditable finishes in each format of the game. The highlights of his best show were his triple gold at 1st Western Youth Chess Championship 2016 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The above picture was taken when Vishy Anand visited the closing ceremony of the IIFLW 2016-17 tournament. Kush is playing a game against the under-13 winner Pranav.V. Vishy Anand enjoyed the game as a silent spectator as the two talents fought it out against each other. It was a great sight to behold.

Kush’s achievement of winning multiple tournaments and winning the CM title naturally made his coach Balaji Guttula pleased. “Kush Bhagat rightly deserves this and many more to follow in the days to come,” Balaji said. Kush’s mother, Shilpa Bhagat, former Mrs India, credited the boy’s success to his hard work and the academy’s guidance.

Here is one example of Kush's play when he was just six years old. The game is fairly well played and shows a good understanding of the positional and tactical principles in chess: