Varshney won the Andranik Margaryan Memorial convincingly: he scored 7 points from 9 games, remained unbeaten and finished with a 1.5-point lead over the Russian GM Aleksey Goganov.
| Rk. | Snr | Name | Country | Elo | Pts. | Tb1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | IM | Aaryan, Varshney | IND | 2513 | 7 | 29 |
| 2 | 3 | GM | Goganov, Aleksey | RUS | 2487 | 5,5 | 20,25 |
| 3 | 8 | GM | Lashkin, Jegor | MDA | 2494 | 5 | 22 |
| 4 | 1 | IM | Agasarov, Benik | ARM | 2403 | 5 | 21,75 |
| 5 | 6 | IM | Sukiasyan, Vahe A. | ARM | 2442 | 5 | 21 |
| 6 | 10 | IM | Hakobyan, Erik | ARM | 2427 | 4,5 | 19,25 |
| 7 | 9 | GM | Hayrapetyan, Hovik | ARM | 2407 | 4,5 | 17,25 |
| 8 | 4 | IM | Nozdrachev, Vladislav | RUS | 2514 | 3,5 | 12,75 |
| 9 | 7 | FM | Ambartsumian, Tyhran | ARM | 2375 | 3 | 12 |
| 10 | 5 | IM | Sahakyan, Aleks | ARM | 2401 | 2 | 9,75 |
It was Varshney’s third GM norm in a month and a half, and it secured him the title. As reported by the Times of India, the driving force behind this success was Varshney’s father, Gaurav.
Aaryan Varshney’s mother left the family when he was five years old, and the future grandmaster grew up with his father and grandparents. When Aaryan was seven, Gaurav Varshney, a physics teacher in Delhi by profession, began teaching his son chess. With a strong streak of independence, considerable ambition and modern software — and with success.
Proudly, Gaurav told the Times of India:
My son has no coach till date. My son will probably be the first person to become a grandmaster without a coach. … We used the ChessBase software only and focused on openings. He learned by playing games and I analysed each and every game of Aaryan, whether it was a win or a loss. … You will be surprised that Aaryan has never read a chess book. Our main knowledge base was to play more and more. Chess is not a study. This is a game. Play and learn.
Had Aaryan or his father occasionally taken a look at a chess book, they might have been surprised that players such as Tigran Petrosian, José Raúl Capablanca or Bent Larsen reached world-class level without a trainer. Indeed, throughout the history of chess many leading players and grandmasters — especially in the West — often simply did not have enough money to afford a coach.
However, a remarkable phenomenon becomes apparent here: whereas grandmasters and the world’s best players in the past generally came from countries with a long chess tradition and large chess federations, computers, databases, software and not least the internet have made chess more “democratic” — today one no longer needs a library full of opening and instructional books — including a coach who tells you what and how to study — in order to become good at chess. All one needs is a computer, software, access to the internet, as well as talent, ambition and a willingness to work.
Aaryan Varshney had and has these qualities, and they helped him to the grandmaster title.
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