TORONTO, 13 September — Raja Panjwani, a 12-year-old South Asian Muslim student, who recently won a gold medal at the Canadian Youth Chess Challenge at Montreal, is hoping to win world youth title later this year.
Raja, who studies in Kingston, 180 kilometers east of Toronto, has been chosen to represent Canada at the World Youth Chess Championship to be held in Greece in November this year.. Previously, he had participated as a member of Team Canada at the World Youth Chess Championship held in Spain two years ago, securing eleventh place out of 100 players from across the world.
This year, Raja plans to train hard for the World tournament, aspiring to bring home the world title. “I’m confident to achieve desired results in Greece,” he says. Raja explained that victory in the recent Canada-wide contest had given him more confidence.
He earned top position in the juniors category at the Montreal Championship where best junior players from across Canada. Raja is the highest rated chess player here in the junior 12 and under category, and the first South Asian Canadian youth to win the prestigious chess title. Raja is also the only youth to get an excellent score of 7.0/10 (just 1 point behind the top score) in the Canadian Open 2002 tournament, also held in Montreal recently, that featured the overall Canadian Champion Pascal Charbonneau, several Grand masters and other Masters from abroad, and over 300 seasoned Chess players.
Raja holds a phenomenal track record in chess. He started playing this game at an early age in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He represented Newfoundland and Labrador province several times at the national championships, winning many laurels for the team. He also won top place at the 2001 North American Chess Challenge held in Boston, Massachusetts, competing with the best grade five players from across the North American continent.
Raja’s success is largely due to the labor of love of his father and chess guru Dr. Dilip Panjwani, a cancer specialist and an ardent chess player himself. His mother, Gulshan, a psychiatrist, tries to maintain a balance by supporting Raja in his academic, volunteering and social activities. In his spare time, Raja enjoys playing basketball and tennis, to take his mind off Chess.
Raja’s family immigrated to Canada from Bombay several years ago.
