A journey from Chess to Sudoku
Vijay Adhithyan V.C., a Class III student, is a cheerful and talented boy from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, who has received an appreciation certificate from the India Book of Records for solving a 4 x 4 Sudoku puzzle. He solved five 4 x 4 Sudoku puzzles in 1 minute, 18 seconds, and 3 milliseconds at the age of 8 years and 9 months recently.
Adhi always showed great interest in learning new things right from his birth. Once, when he was about 3 years old, his mother taught him how to move chess pieces. Even while playing casually, he defeated his mother. This came as a shock to the mother, as she had been playing chess for a long time and was so easily defeated by a boy. Since then, Adhi started taking interest in chess.
At the age of four, he started taking formal chess classes at the KKCA Coimbatore from trainers – Vidhya and Krishnamurthy. Now he is training at KQ Chess Academy under trainer – Vinoth. He has participated in tournaments at the district level, State level, National level, and International level also. He has won many trophies since the age of 6.
Mother, Ms. Chandrika says that her child enjoys reading books, solving puzzles, setting up a Rubik’s cube, and engaging in Sudoku puzzles. He downloaded the Sudoku app with the help of his father and tried to solve the 4 x 4 puzzle. He learned the concepts and very quickly started solving a variety of puzzles. His screen time is usually restricted. That’s why he gets little time to use the Sudoku app, yet he has excelled in his timing.
Adhi has also shown interest in physical activities, and these days he is learning Tennis and Silambam. Now he has started writing fictional stories too. He has written a few stories and intends to publish them in the future. He always walks a step ahead of his age and is striving in various fields. His favorite pastime is reading books. She enjoys reading Geronimo Stilton books, comics, and fun facts.
His younger sister, V.C.Vijaya Aishwarya is 6 years old and is learning Bharatnatyam. Together, the two children participate in chess, tennis, sudoku puzzles, and other sports. Adhi’s grandfather, Dr. R. Kannan, IFS, is a retired forest officer, and his father, Dr. K. Vijaykarthikeyan, IAS, is a medico-turned-bureaucrat. Adhi aspires to become a bureaucrat like his father when he grows up. One of his desires is to master chess.
Ms. Chandrika says that as a parent, both of us have always given the option to the kids to choose their area of interest. If they want to move up in an area, that’s fine, and we don’t mind if they want to change course. We have balanced our attitudes towards them as strict and friendly. When we have to put a stop to their request to anything, we have done it and if we have to handle it in a friendly manner, we have not stopped that as well. They know that they can’t get an easy way out with one of their parents always. We both have always been on the same page when we are parenting our kids.