IT Minister Nara Lokesh’s nine-year-old son Devaansh has reportedly set a world record in the category of ‘Fastest Checkmate Solver – 175 Puzzles’. The World Book of Records issued a certificate to that effect dated December 21.

According to a press release, it was a record-making event that featured Devaansh tackling a sequence of progressively challenging checkmate puzzles, selected from the renowned chess compilation ‘5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by László Polgár in a tight time frame. 

Mr. Lokesh said he was thrilled with Devaansh’s accomplishment and said it was made possible by his mother Brahmani’s support and coach K. Rajashekar Reddy’s guidance. He stated that Devaansh underwent rigorous training for the last six months with laser-sharp focus and was inspired by the stellar performances of Indian chess players in the global arena.

Coach Rajashekar Reddy said Devaansh was learning chess creatively and that his mental agility was immense as he was able to sharply solve 175 complex puzzles. Devaansh also achieved two more records of finishing the seven – disc Tower of Hanoi in just 1 minute 43 seconds, and arranged nine chess boards in five minutes with all 32 pieces in correct positions. All the record attempts were thoroughly scrutinised by adjudicators and the officials of World Book of Records, London.