Srinath Narayanan is a former Indian chess prodigy who hails from Chennai. When he was at the merely 5 years old, he defeated his father in a chess game and thus his talent in chess was recognized. He was born in the year 1994. Narayanan won the under-12 world chess championship that was conducted in Belfort, France in July 2005. He attained the final score of 8.5 with three other players Wesley So (Philippines), Samvel Ter Sahakyan (Armenia) and Sanan Sjugirov (Russia). The excellent Indian chess player is an International Master. As of July 2011, the FIDE Elo rating of Srinath Narayanan is 2371. In the year 2002, Srinath became the youngest FIDE rated chess player in India.
His father Narayanan is a United India Assurance employee. Narayanan`s enchantment for the chessboard began at the age of five on a train journey from Chennai to Mumbai. Due to his immense skill in playing chess so eeficiently, he was regarded as an Indian chess prodigy. Srinath Narayanan took part in the state under-9 tournament, a few months later and he won the State championship. At that time Parimarjan Negi was the youngest FIDE rated player in the country, who is from Delhi. When Srinath came to know about him, he wanted to beat him for the record. Till he played his first rated tournament in the year 2002, he didn`t even have any knowledge about FIDE rating.
In the year 2002, Srinath Narayanan became the youngest FIDE rated chess player in India. The highest rating achieved by him was 2280. In the 5th Dubai Juniors Chess Championship held in the year 2006, he finished second behind Azerbajani IM Eltaj Safarli in a field of 146. He achieved equal ninth, in the Hastings Chess Congress (2007), scoring his first IM norm and is a FIDE Master. His most played openings are: B 90 Sicilian, Najdorf (4 games); B-42 Sicilian, Kan (4 games); C 53 Giuoco Piano (3 games); B 07 Pirc (2 games); A33 English, Symmetrical (2 games); B 76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack (2 games) A 57 Benko Gambit (2 games); B22 Sicilian, Alapin (2 games) and A46 Queen`s Pawn Game (2 games).
