Anantapur Chess Under -11 player Samuel Stephen Noble S won the champion Title of V4 1st International Below 1600 FIDE Rated Chess Tournament held in Sri Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium, Yusufguda, Hyderabad from 3rd to 5th February 2023.
Stephen was unbeaten to claim the Huge Trophy with 8.5/9 points and bagged Cash Prize of Rs 1,00,001/- as a sole leader of the Tournament and received the trophy on the hands of the President of Telangana State Chess Association Sri K.S. Prasad. Sri Salim Beig, IA who was the Chief Arbiter of the Tournament announced that 10 Years old Boy claiming the Championship is undoubtedly an encouragement to all the kids and parents of Chess Fraternity. Besides the Trophy and Prize Money, he improved 153 Elo points to his present Standard Rating 1359. Previously he won the Under-12 Championship held in Rajahmundry in 2022 . His parents Sri Sundara Raju and Smt Dr Rebecca encouraged him when he was 5 years old.
Mr. Sundar taught the basics and then he went through the training & improved his game under Mr. Mane Manohar in 2018 , there after Mr. Jakeer Hussain and from 2019 onwards under Mr. Hussain Khan . Currently he is studying 5th Class in Narayana EM School, Anantapur, and got his FIDE rating in all the three formats. Initial days Shri. Ravi Raj garu & later Shri. G V Kumar garu encouraged always Samuel to motivate during the tournaments.
The constant support of AACA & ACA is in valuable, Sri Sundara Raju quoted in his statement. The ACA President Sri Sarma garu , Secretary Sri Bheemarao garu wishes many more such victories to Stephen in future.