Delhi teen Vandan Sawai refocuses after online win over Magnus Carlsen

Fifteen-year-old Vandan Alankar Sawai went to sleep after beating Magnus Carlsen in an online Title Tuesday game last week. The Delhi student said he did not see the result as a victory that should change his routine.

At Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, schoolmates he does not know have begun stopping him to ask whether he is the player who beat Carlsen. “It’s blowing up much more than I would want it to,” Sawai said.

Sawai said he believed Carlsen made an error through a mouse slip during the Chess.com game, and that he would have felt differently had he outplayed the former world champion completely. Before the match, he expected to lose whether he played solidly or aggressively.

The attention has also made it harder to settle back into his game, he said, describing recent mistakes in his play. Sawai said his focus remains on the longer route ahead: becoming an international master and then a grandmaster.