Sahithi and Savitha Shine Globally After Their Family’s Sacrifices
Chess Success Story
Two young chess players from India are gaining prominence around the world.
Sahithi Varshini and Savitha Bhaskar have made significant strides.
It is a story of talent, determination, and remarkable family sacrifices.
Sahithi’s father, Lokeshwar Mugi Rao, supported her chess dreams.
He quit his job to mentor his daughter in chess.
But participation in international tournaments put a strain on finances.
His employer, HPCL, apparently paid ₹10 lakh for overseas travel.
The Andhra Pradesh state government also gave ₹10 lakh.
However, these amounts were not sufficient for the expenses.
Thus, they had to sell their flat in order to finance Sahithi.
Her mother also offered her gold ornaments.
In spite of this, Sahithi kept on pursuing her chess dreams.
Recently, she bagged her third and last WGM norm.
She won the distinction in a tournament held in Serbia.
Her performance rating was claimed to be 2,408.
She got her first two norms in Hungary.
This happened in September 2025 and August 2026 respectively.
At the same time, Savitha Bhaskar gained international acclaim in team events.
She was awarded the bronze medal at the Samarkand Chess Olympiad.
Both of them are now 19 years old.
It is the sign of the increasing power of the women’s chess in India.
The Amazing Comeback of Sahithi
The health crisis was quite serious for Sahithi when she was six years old.
Sahithi needed ventilator support for a week due to dengue fever.
She was lucky enough to overcome the deadly disease.
The father of Sahithi thinks that she was given another opportunity to live.
Later on, he decided to nurture the talent of Sahithi in playing chess.
Lokeshwar founded a chess institute after quitting his job.
But he could not practice due to his operation for more than nine months.
Still, he managed to safeguard the career of his daughter in chess.
According to chess coach IM Sagar Saha, Sahithi and Lokeshwar will be successful one day.
He compares them with the success of Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli.
