He loves to play with numbers and solve problems. He is one of the youngest even to present a paper during the ongoing International Congress of Mathematics at Hitex Convention Centre here. Srikar Varadaraj, the 10th standard student from Bangalore, also went on to achieve a rare feat.
This 14-year-old lad was the cynosure being the only one of the 40 engaged in simultaneous chess with reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand, to force a creditable draw as all the others lost their games.
“I was busted by his tenacity,” was the remark from Anand later. For someone who takes every game seriously -- be it against an eight-year-old or a Grandmaster by his own confession -- the world champion revealed that at one particular stage, he seemed to be even losing. But when the young opponent missed a ‘line', Anand fought back to salvage a draw.
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“It was real fun. I first came to know about Anand's greatness through my father sometime back. So, it was a wonderful feeling to draw the game against him,” said the unassuming Srikar.