Fenil shah is an International Chess player from Ahmedabad, is the latest player from Gujarat to be awarded the title ofInternational Master. He is a former National Champion of India, Asian and Commonwealth Medallist, British Champion and the youngest rated player of India.He has played many National Championships and International Championship and has won all the State Titles in category U-7, U-9, U-11,U- 15,U-17,U- 19, U-25 & Seniors Chess Championship.

Fenil has represented India in various International Championships at Singapore, Iran, UAE, Turkey, Georgia, Spain, Russia,UK, Iceland, Sweden, Latvia and many other countries. Representing one's own country at an international event is a dream of every sports person. Not only did he play for his country for 5 consecutive years, but also won various accolades in these events. He has been awarded the 'FIDE MASTER' Title from World Chess Federation. The Champion has also been adjudged 'INTERNATIONAL MASTER' Title in the 2nd Presidential Board meeting at Bucharest, Romania in July 2018.

Son of Mr. Chetan Shah and Mrs. Mona Shah, Fenil started playing chess at the age of five. Born on 20th April 1995, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Fenil had done his schooling from Udgam School and St. Xavier’s Loyola Hall. He graduated from Nirma University with B.Tech in Civil Engineering and minor specialization in Finance. He has made it a point to balance his academic and sports career and achieve the best results in both areas. Fenil likes to follow games of Magnus Carlsen from Norway and Garry Kasparov from Russia, although his all-time favourite Bobby Fischer from USA.

The chess prodigy prepares himself through playing in-built games on his laptop and reading about classic games from the past. "I read literature and analyse my previous games which helps me in planning strategies", he said. According to him a person's personality has a lot to do with the type of game he plays. "Your game reflects the type of person you are. You will suffer if you don't know how to manage time. It happens in chess. A player is likely to make an obvious mistake if he is asked to speed up his moves", he said elaborating as he used to take time in deciding moves, later he applied time management to his routine and witnessed a dramatic change in his games. He follows the ideology, "Respecting your time is glorifying your talent".