He likes playing an aggressive game. He has laid low several International Masters and Grand Masters and is now ranked No. 1 in Blitz chess. Goa say hello to Ethan Vaz. All of 11 he is carving a path all his own that could one day take him to perhaps fighting for the world championship.
His recent performances in Serbia and then Vienna helped him climb up the final few steps.
Ethan Vaz was very calm and collected when asked how he felt about being ranked No 1. He said, “I feel nice but I am now preparing for the tournament in Abu Dhabi where I will be playing with Grand Masters. It should be a good experience”.
Ethan has certainly travelled some distance from the time when he first started playing a chessboard bought by his mom. He and his brother took the sport with great enthusiasm and started beating their dad on the board. Their father, Edwin Vaz, realising their potential enrolled them in an academy to get specialised training. Ethan was very clear about his goals. In the next five years he aims to become one of the youngest Grand Masters in the world. And then yes perhaps fight for the world championship.
Edwin Vaz has been playing a vital role in the background as his son goes around the world winning medals and moving up the ranks.
He said, “We have been doing our best to ensure Ethan reaches his potential. We went a bit slow otherwise I feel he would have reached this position even earlier. We are continuously on the lookout for sponsorships. Last year we were lucky with the Geno Foundation which sponsored his expenses for the World Cadet Chess Championship in Georgia, the Asian Youth Chess Championship in Bali and the Commonwealth Championship in Sri Lanka”.
Ethan won the 6 medals in the Asian Championship which included Gold in blitz, bronze in rapid and gold in the team and silver in the blitz championship. He missed the silver by half a point in the World Cadet Championship and stood sixth. He won Gold in the Commonwealth championship too. He has not been able to get a sponsor this year though they are approaching various organisations. They have also approached the State government for help; no response has been forthcoming so far. He however said the school in which Ethan was studying in, The King’s School, Sao Jose de Areal was very helpful. They had been very understanding and the school and the school fees have been waived by the management of the school. Edwin remains hopeful of help coming like it did last year from the ChessBase India which helped with Rs 2 lakh.
Like money in chess, trained staff is important. Prakash Vikram Singh has played an important role in the progression of Ethan as a player. Vikram has been training him since 2017 and said Ethan was certainly performing to his potential.
Prakash said, “We are practising and playing. We are going tournament by tournament. We saw his progress and got over 2,200 points in the Blitz category which made him No. 1. It is a fast game and lasts three minutes and he has beaten many Grandmasters. He is now No. 1 in Blitz and general category for u-12”.
Vikram went on to say that Ethan was a world level player and this was certainly a proud moment for Goa.
He said, “We hope he gets the International Master and the Grandmaster norm soon and yes we are trying to help him become the world’s youngest Grandmaster too.”
Vikram said that the visit to Abu Dhabi would be a good experience because there were several Grandmasters who would be playing and this would help him learn what it was like at that level.
In the Standard/Classical Chess, Ethan has broken into the Top 10 in the World in the Under-12 category, being positioned at World No. 9, besides also becoming India No. 1 in Under-12 and Under-13 categories.
Ethan has also been awarded the prestigious title of FIDE Master (FM) by the International Chess Federation recently. On June 4, while playing at the 2nd Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2023, in Nagpur, Ethan crossed 2100 Elo in classical chess and met the requisite condition for being conferred the direct title of FIDE Master, making him the youngest FIDE Master of Goa. It may be recalled that Ethan had become eligible for the direct FM Title upon winning the Gold Medal at Asian Youth Chess Championships 2022, subject to achieving a rating of 2100 Elo.
On July 2, in less than one month of crossing 2100 and becoming an FM, Ethan went on to cross 2300 Elo in live rating during his recent tour of Serbia.
Ethan played a set of 3 classical international Grandmaster tournaments in Serbia, adding 169 Elo points to his FIDE rating. Amongst his best performances in the classical tournaments, he finished joint 4th and bagged the 7th Place award on tie-break at Silver Lake Open (A Category), while he finished 11th at Vojvodina Open (A category), half a point short of making it into the Top 10 prize list. At the Paracin Open 2023, Ethan touched a career high rating of 2332 Elo in standard chess, before settling at 2306 Elo. Before heading back home from the tour, Ethan also played the Austrian Championship in Vienna, where he finished joint 2nd with a performance rating of 2427 and was placed 5th on tie-break.
In blitz chess, 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.
