NEW DELHI: It was the Round 3 game between Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and the eventual winner, Javokhir Sindarov, at the FIDE Candidates tournament just a few weeks ago. 12-year-old Aarav Sarbalia, a FIDE Master (FM), had virtually joined the commentary panel of a popular YouTube channel covering the action live from Cyprus. It was Aarav's first gig of that sort. He was asked multiple times to analyse the position and predict what he would play if he were sitting in the seats of either Praggnanandhaa or Sindarov. Both players are Super Grandmasters, matching their deep understanding of lines over the board, and predicting their stratagems beforehand is not everyone's cup of tea. However, this youngster, who rarely indulged in non-chess talk during his stay on the panel, was able to navigate the complexities of each position, predicting moves beforehand more often than not.
Believe it or not, this 12-year-old is the online chess world's latest sensation. Yet, it is not just for what he is doing over the 64 squares with his pieces, but for what he is doing off them by dominating the social media feeds of every chess enthusiast with what his father, Yatin Sarbalia, calls "fun reels".
"When we go to tournaments, parents come up and say, 'We liked this particular one of yours. The one you made about parents was good,'" Yatin told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive conversation. "Our aim isn't to just share what's happening in the Candidates or show which tournament Aarav is winning. Our aim is to take our learnings and our journey and post them in a good content form to make people a bit more aware."
That process has led the youngster to earn some high-profile followers, from Hungarian chess legend Judit Polgar to Vishnu Prasanna, the man credited with shaping the world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. "I've heard that some Grandmasters have told their students to go and watch Aarav's content," Yatin laughed.
The journey didn't start in a house where chess was a way of life. In fact, Yatin, an IIT Roorkee alumnus and now a tech lead in Bengaluru, only knew the basic rules of the game. In June 2020, as COVID-19 locked the world indoors, the Sarbalia family moved from Delhi to Bengaluru. With school and work both moving to the home office, the family sought a productive outlet.
Back in Delhi, Yatin had seen a chess poster while picking up Aarav from gymnastics. Knowing his son was verbally very good at calculations, they gave it a trial. Once in Bengaluru, they enrolled him in Chess Gurukul, the academy run by the legendary RB Ramesh. "It was a good time because we got to spend time as a family," Yatin recalled. "When Aarav did his classes, I would sit in the class with him so that I could learn a bit too. I could help and support him if there was something he didn't understand."
The pivot to social media was born out of a cold, hard sporting reality. By age 11, Aarav had already become a FIDE Master. They started looking for sponsors. Despite Aarav's accolades, including multiple first and second finishes in age-category tournaments across different formats of the game, the family found that doors remained closed.
"We tried hard to find sponsorships, but we didn't get a positive response," Yatin explained. "Sponsorship is a two-way street. People were asking, 'What is Aarav's presence?' We had never even thought about social presence."
Coupled with a desire to improve Aarav's communication and verbal skills, the parents decided to take the reins. While Aarav focuses on chess, his parents focus on social media presence. The process, however, is strictly regulated. Aarav doesn't own a phone and knows nothing of the scrolling culture. "In a month, Aarav doesn't spend more than two or three hours on this. We fix a specific time when we need him to act," Yatin told this website. The parents script the ideas and shoot a month's worth of content in one sitting. For Aarav, it remains a game within a game. "He once asked me, 'Dad, can I become a good actor too?' and I was like, 'Let's focus on our chess first," his father added.
Besides gaining followers, the visibility has already borne fruit in a more prominent manner. Not so long ago, a chess-oriented start-up has provided Aarav with sponsorship and decided to back him. It was a vital breakthrough, considering the staggering costs of elite chess involving top-rated tournaments abroad. "Financially, it's all our savings. In one year, if you do three or four trips to Europe and stay for three or four months, you will spend at least 12 to 15 lakhs," Yatin admitted. "We keep our target as GM. And we do all the coaching and everything in that direction."
Because Aarav is only 12, a parent must always travel with him, doubling the cost. Yatin and his wife take turns traveling, rotating the responsibility of looking after their six-year-old daughter back in Bengaluru. But the results on the board justify the sacrifice. Aarav went from a rating of 1400 to 2000 in a mere two-month trip to Europe. By June 2024, he had surged to 2300, bypassing the Candidate Master (CM) title entirely to become a FIDE Master.
To navigate the treacherous waters between 2300 and the Grandmaster (GM) title, the family sought the best. They set their sights on Surya Shekhar Ganguly, the six-time national champion and former second to Viswanathan Anand. "We contacted him and tried very hard, followed him on Instagram, messaged him," Yatin revealed. It took six months of persistent chasing before Ganguly agreed to test the youngster. Aarav passed in that, and since last year, Ganguly has been his primary coach.
Aarav's current standard rating sits around 2247 after a slight dip in France, but the focus remains unwavering as he prepares for his next stint in Munich, Germany, playing in the GM category. The family isn't interested in incremental steps anymore, as Yatin put it, "We don't think in our minds that our next target is IM (International Master). We keep our target as GM. And we do all the coaching and everything in that direction."
