Raunak Sidhwani wins junior championship

• The PM congratulated Grandmaster Raunak Sadhwani who had won the FIDE World Junior Rapid Chess Championship in Sardinia, Italy.
• Raunak scored 8.5 over 11 rounds to win the Championship ahead of Arseniy Nesterov of Russia, who scored 8.
• Raunak became a grandmaster at the age of 13.
• He is the ninth youngest player in history and the fourth youngest Indian to be awarded the title.

About FIDE (Federation International des Echecs) or International Chess Federation

• FIDE is constituted as a non-governmental institution.
• Founded – 1924
• HQ- Lausanne, Switzerland
• Motto is “Gens una sumus,” which is Latin for “We are one family.”
• It is the governing body of the sport of chess and regulates all international chess competitions.
• It was recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a Global Sporting Organization in 1999.

It has 199 countries as affiliate members (including India), in the form of National Chess Federations.