CHENNAI: It rained on Friday night in Thiruthangal, a locality in Sivakasi. Electricity was cut off since 6 pm, which plunged the area into darkness. But inside a modest home, an eight-year-old boy, with only a flickering candle and a mobile flashlight illuminating his laptop screen, logged on to the Freestyle Friday Online Chess Championship.At the other end of Tamiz Amodhan’s determination, in all the ambient light that a first world brings, was world No. 7 Vincent Kemmer, who had an ELO rating of 2759.Balancing a laptop on his lap, playing with black, Tamiz stunned the 21-year-old German in the opening round of Freestyle Friday, a popular weekly 11-round Swiss-format blitz event featuring players with multiple titles. Tamiz managed to play four more rounds, winning two, before his laptop battery finally exploded.World No. 1 in the Under-9 category – In February, he became the youngest player to cross the 2000+ Elo rating mark — a distinction shared by Kalakurichi. For the past one year, he has been living in a rented house in Thiruthangal, 350 km away, to avoid the long commute and trains regularly at the Hutson Chase Academy in the industrial city next to the temple.Speaking to TOI, Tamiz’s father Satish Arumgam told how he improvised in the dark and used his phone’s hotspot and mobile data to stay online.“We returned from Hetson Academy around 6 pm, when the power went out due to heavy rain. The tournament was at 8 pm, and the laptop had only 48 percent charge left. So, we knew it could handle three or four games,” said Satish.Satish revealed that his son was undaunted by the situation. Tamiz still wanted to play, the power cut didn’t bother him at all. He said he will play as many games as possible until the battery dies.“He loves to blitz. And to beat a player like Vincent Kemmer – he had only 14 seconds to spare while Tamiz had almost a minute, it felt really good. It was good to see the result of all the hard work and effort we put in,” added a proud Satish.“It’s a very pleasant feeling. No, I wasn’t worried when the power went out,” Tamiz said before heading back to watch the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.The youngster took up chess at the age of four, and his family has sacrificed a lot to support his journey. His parents take turns staying with him in Thiruthangal, about 350 km from home, to ensure that he can train undisturbed.Over the past year, Tamiz has created an impressive record of winning four silver medals and one bronze medal at the 27th Asian Youth Chess Championship 2025. Now we also know that rain and thunder cannot stop it.
