Teachers share their sweetest gifts from students and it's a moving lesson in generosity

Some of the most precious gifts come straight from the heart. A former teacher shared an incredible story of a student's selflessness, generosity and thoughtfulness. Nine years ago, the student didn't have a Christmas gift for her, so he opened up a pack of crayons, gave her the purple one, and said "I hope you love it, I know it's your favorite color." Flex those love muscles; share stories that show you care and recognize heartfelt gestures with admiration 😊

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A Professor Just Discovered Hidden Symbols in This Ancient Roman Glass at the Metropolitan Museum

In the soft-lit stillness of a New York museum gallery, Hallie Meredith did something no one else had thought to do—she turned a 1,600-year-old Roman glass cup around. What she saw may reshape how scholars understand one of antiquity’s most intricate crafts. Meredith, an art history professor at Washington State University and a practicing glassblower, was studying a collection of rare Roman “cage cups” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in early 2023 when she noticed something on the back of a vessel that others had long overlooked: small, abstract shapes—diamonds, leaves, maybe crosses—carved beside an inscription wishing the owner a long life. For decades, these patterns were dismissed as decorative flourishes. But Meredith saw something else. “Because I am trained as a maker, I kept wanting to flip things over,” she said. “When that happens, patterns appear that everyone else has literally photographed out of the frame.” Her insight: those carved symbols weren’t just decoration. They were makers’ marks—a kind of ancient branding used by workshops to signal where and by whom the object was made. Rethinking Roman Craftsmanship The objects in question are diatreta—elaborately carved glass vessels made between 300 and 500 CE, known for their double-layered latticework structure. For years, debates over how these fragile masterpieces were made centered on technique: carving, blowing, casting. But Meredith’s research adds something long missing from the conversation—the people who made them. In two recent academic papers, Meredith documented the same carved symbols appearing on multiple Roman glass pieces, showing a repeatable visual language shared by artisans across time and geography. “They weren’t personal autographs,” she explained. “They were the ancient equivalent of a brand.” The marks suggest that diatreta were not solo masterpieces, but the product of complex workshop collaboration. “Engravers, polishers, apprentices—they all worked together,” Meredith said. Tool marks, unfinished pieces, and inscriptions support the idea that Roman glassmaking was a team effort requiring immense skill and coordination over long periods. Turning Objects into Archives of Labor The discovery reframes ancient luxury goods as more than elite collectibles. It highlights the anonymous labor and knowledge systems behind them. “This wasn’t just about technique—it was about organization,” Meredith said. “These marks reveal a shared system of communication among artisans, a kind of invisible network across the Roman world.” Her findings are now part of a broader research project, including a forthcoming book titled The Roman Craftworkers of Late Antiquity: A Social History of Glass Production and Related Industries, due from Cambridge University Press in 2026 or 2027. Meredith’s dual role as a scholar and maker uniquely informs her work. She understands, from experience, how glass behaves in its molten state. At WSU, she teaches a course called Experiencing Ancient Making, where students use 3D printing, attempt ancient crafting methods, and explore digital models to break down historical objects. The goal, she says, is not accuracy but empathy: “We understand ancient artisans differently when we attempt the labor ourselves.” A New Lens on Ancient Mistakes Meredith’s next research venture brings together art history and data science. In collaboration with WSU computer science students, she’s building a searchable database of unconventional inscriptions found on Roman portable objects. It includes everything from misspellings and code-like letters to mixed alphabets. These quirks have long been dismissed as illiterate errors. Meredith thinks otherwise. “They might reflect multilingual artisans intentionally adapting text for different audiences,” she said. Reclaiming Invisible Histories Above all, Meredith’s work urges scholars and museum visitors alike to look beyond the elegance of ancient artifacts and see the fingerprints of the people behind them. “These glass vessels aren’t just beautiful,” she said. “They’re records of hands and labor and decisions. When light hits a diatretum, we’re not just seeing craftsmanship—we’re seeing collaboration, history, and human experience that’s been hidden in plain sight.” All it took was turning the object around.

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This UK Chef is Giving Away 500 Christmas Meals To People In Need

In a small coastal village near Weston-super-Mare, a chef and a group of volunteers are preparing 500 Christmas dinners for people who might otherwise go without. Caz Goddard, a caterer from Kewstoke in north Somerset, started the annual tradition in 2020 with just 50 meals. This year, she and her team of 15 volunteers hope to hit their biggest number yet, delivering hot meals and gift bags to shelters and individuals on December 23. “If you’re lonely, if there’s a problem, please reach out to us,” Goddard told BBC Radio Bristol. “We want to help.” She runs her own catering business, but every year around the holidays, she shifts her focus. In 2024, she made 250 meals for people in need. This time, she’s aiming to double it. The meals will be hand-delivered to homeless shelters and women fleeing domestic violence. Recipients will also get festive bundles, complete with treats and presents. “It’s a whole big thing—and then they get a goodies bag,” she said. The team is already in prep mode. Yorkshire puddings are being made this weekend and frozen, ready to be reheated alongside roast dinners just ahead of Christmas. The idea started during the pandemic, when Goddard noticed the contrast between holiday excess and street-level hardship. “I was bored of seeing Christmas trees with hundreds of gifts in front of them and then walking down the street and seeing someone homeless,” she said. “I got lost with Christmas as well—I think it was ‘how much can I get my daughter,’ etc., and the whole giving back had got lost. I wanted to change the way I look and support people at Christmas.” Five years on, that impulse has grown into a community effort. “Christmas really changed for me,” she said. “Whether it’s mental health, our finances go wrong, anything like that—we are all probably one step away from being homeless ourselves.” The campaign has no formal name or funding body. It’s just local people donating food, time, and care to others who might need it. For Goddard, that’s exactly the point.

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Gruyère Reigns Supreme as World’s Best Cheese in 2025 — Judges Brave 5,000 Dairy Delights in Bern

In a showdown of global dairy proportions, an aged Swiss Gruyère has been crowned the best cheese in the world for 2025 — triumphing over more than 5,000 competitors from 46 countries at this year’s World Cheese Awards in Bern. The winning wheel, Bergkäserei Vorderfultigen, comes from a small Alpine dairy in western Switzerland and was crafted from cow’s milk by cheesemaker Pius Hitz, whose modest herd of Fleckvieh cows now finds itself at the center of global cheese fame. “It’s an incredible honor,” Hitz said after receiving the top prize. While past winners have seen sales skyrocket, he said he has no plans to scale up production, choosing instead to protect the balance of Switzerland’s tightly regulated Gruyère market. That market dominance was hard-won — especially considering the competition. Judges, 265 of them from around the world, gathered in Bern’s Festhalle auditorium to sniff, slice, stroke, and taste their way through 5,244 cheeses. Some traveled just a few miles. Others crossed oceans, customs paperwork in tow, just to reach the judging table. By 10 a.m., the first wedges were being prodded and poked under the yellow-aproned scrutiny of two- and three-person judging panels. Identifying labels were stripped off for blind tasting. Cheeses were scored on appearance, smell, taste, texture, and that elusive “mouthfeel” — which, as one judge admitted, wasn’t always pleasant. “There were a couple of no-swallows today,” said UK cheesemonger and author Emma Young. “It’s bonkers. I’ve tasted some of the best cheeses I’ve had in my life — and some of the worst.” To keep their palates fresh, judges sipped water, nibbled apples, and in a few cases, downed emergency swigs of Coca-Cola. They sampled everything from creamy Manchegos to neon-blue spirulina cheeses, soft cheeses in jars to hard wheels crumbling under their own weight. At least one entry had been soaked in whiskey and red apple juice. There was cheese from cow, sheep, goat, buffalo, camel, and even donkey milk. Some were covered in wax. Some in flowers. One resembled a science experiment gone rogue. One judge, known in cheese circles as Brieyoncé, praised a raw goat cheese as “almost like biting into a cloud.” Another described a large wheel covered in pressed grapes as “milky, but quite dry… claggy,” before gently brushing it off the judging table. By midday, “super gold” winners were paraded to a final round, where 14 cheeses advanced to a live-tasting final on stage — complete with Alpine horn fanfare. The finalists included a Japanese whipped goat cheese, a sunset-orange cheddar from the UK, and a handful of Swiss powerhouses. In the end, the Gruyère reigned supreme. Top-level judge Perry Wakeman, who normally ages cheeses at Rennet & Rind in England, said the flavor stuck with him long after the tasting. “Butterscotch, caramel. Savory, some fruit-funk notes, some slight burn on there like charcoal. The length was unbelievable. Three cheeses on, we could still taste it.” While judges had the privilege of tasting, onlookers did not — due to import restrictions and foot-and-mouth concerns, only pre-approved judges could sample the entries. The vast leftover cheese on the auditorium tables would not go to waste, organizers said, noting it would be recycled locally and “turned into energy.” Next year, the World Cheese Awards head to Córdoba, Spain. But for now, Switzerland keeps the crown — and a Gruyère made in a quiet Alpine village holds the title of best cheese on Earth.

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The Sun Just Revealed a New Trick—Recycling Its Own Material in Real Time

The Sun just revealed a new trick—recycling its own material in real time—and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe was close enough to catch it all on camera. During a record-breaking flyby on Christmas Eve 2024, Parker swooped just 6.1 million kilometers above the solar surface and captured something scientists had never seen this clearly before: a solar eruption that didn’t just blow material into space but also sucked some of it back in. The phenomenon unfolded during a coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive burst of superheated plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s outer atmosphere. These eruptions can trigger geomagnetic storms on Earth, disrupting everything from power grids to GPS. But Parker’s footage shows that not all of that solar material makes a clean getaway. Like breath on a cold day, the flare ballooned outwards—then, just as it began to fade, some of the plasma reversed course, curling back toward the Sun. According to NASA, the U-turn was caused by powerful magnetic field lines snapping and reconnecting, forming giant loops. Some of these loops hurled energy outward into space, but others retracted, pulling the solar material back in a process known as “inflows.” “We’ve previously seen hints that material can fall back into the sun this way, but to see it with this clarity is amazing,” said Nour Rawafi, Parker Solar Probe’s project scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. “This is a really fascinating, eye-opening glimpse into how the sun continuously recycles its coronal magnetic fields and material.” The footage—captured by the probe’s WISPR instrument—marks the first time scientists have been able to directly measure the speed and size of these returning blobs of plasma. That data is already being used to improve models of the Sun’s magnetic field and how future solar storms might behave. This isn’t the first time inflows have been seen. Solar missions like SOHO have caught them before—but only from a distance. Parker’s close pass gave scientists the most detailed view yet, revealing the fine-scale dynamics of how the Sun’s atmosphere resets itself after a violent eruption. As the CME expands outward, it stretches surrounding magnetic field lines to their breaking point. NASA compares it to “the threads of an old piece of cloth pulled too tight.” When the lines snap and reconnect, they reshape the magnetic environment near the Sun’s surface—potentially changing the course of future solar storms. That’s where the real impact lies. Understanding how one eruption reshapes the terrain for the next could help scientists forecast where CMEs might go and how intense they’ll be. In practical terms, that could mean more accurate space weather predictions—not just for Earth, but for spacecraft and satellites throughout the solar system. “That's enough to be the difference between a CME crashing into Mars versus sweeping by the planet with no or little effects,” said Angelos Vourlidas, project scientist for WISPR and another researcher at Johns Hopkins. Space weather forecasting is notoriously difficult. Magnetic fields near the Sun are dynamic and messy. But by watching how the Sun cleans up after itself—snapping, reconnecting, and recycling—scientists may finally get the upper hand. “Ultimately, this work may help scientists better predict the impact of space weather across the solar system on longer timescales than currently possible,” NASA said. And for Parker Solar Probe, now in the final legs of its multi-year mission, each flyby offers another chance to get closer to the heart of the solar storm—and watch the Sun rebuild itself, one loop at a time.

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Once 'Horrible,' Beijing’s Forbidden City Is Now a Global Model for Historic Restoration

When Ho Puay-peng first stepped into Beijing’s Forbidden City in the late 1980s, what he saw shocked him. Garbage piles filled historic courtyards. Centuries-old wooden structures were blackened by fire or left crumbling in disrepair. Government offices had taken over entire sections of the ancient palace. His verdict? “Horrible.” At the time, the majority of the Forbidden City—China’s former imperial seat—was closed to the public. Today, thanks to decades of steady, detailed restoration, it’s a very different place. Now one of China’s most visited tourist destinations, the Forbidden City is also a case study in how to revive and preserve monumental heritage. “It now owns the whole compound, and they will restore bit by bit to open it up,” said Ho, who now holds the UNESCO Chair on Architectural Heritage Conservation and Management in Asia. “And I think that’s a wonderful effort.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Palace Museum, which was founded in 1925 after the last Qing emperor, Pu Yi, was finally forced out of the palace. But real restoration only began much later. It wasn’t until a 2002 meeting of China’s State Council—held on site—that large-scale renovations kicked off. At that point, less than one-third of the vast complex was open to the public. By 2018, that number had jumped to 80%. The latest restoration success is the Qianlong Garden, a once-hidden retreat in the northeastern section of the palace. Closed for nearly a century, the garden officially reopened on September 30—and instantly became a viral sensation on Chinese social media. On the last day of China’s Golden Week holiday, tourists queued up in the rain just to get in. Built in the 1770s under Emperor Qianlong, the garden was originally conceived as a private space for the ruler’s retirement. It covers just 6,000 square meters—smaller than a soccer field—but offers a completely different atmosphere from the vast ceremonial plazas elsewhere in the Forbidden City. “Qianlong took a page from private gardens in southern China,” explained Ho. “The architecture has carved up the very tight space to accommodate many sceneries. When you look at the sceneries from below and up on the inner pavilion, on the artificial hills, you get different perspectives.” Restoring the garden took 25 years—longer than it took to build in the first place—and cost an estimated $15–18 million. The project was a collaboration between the Palace Museum and the World Monuments Fund, under an agreement first signed in 2000. Ho praised the long timeline: “I am happy to see they spent such a long time on this.” The garden's quiet entrance belies its significance. Its design and ornamentation are among the most elaborate in the entire Forbidden City, with intricately painted ceilings, carved wooden screens, and hand-laid stone paths. Of the four connected courtyards that make up the garden, two are now open to the public. The success of Qianlong Garden is only one part of the Palace Museum’s broader strategy. Earlier restoration of Taihedian, the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the largest building in the palace, took less than two years. Next up is Yangxindian, or the Hall of Mental Cultivation, which served as both the residence and administrative office for Qing emperors. Its restoration began in 2018 and is expected to wrap up this year. Even as visitors flood back, the emphasis remains on quality over speed. For Ho, what matters is that China applies these lessons more broadly. “It’s important to professionally and scientifically conserve Qing Dynasty architecture across the country,” he said, referencing not only the Forbidden City, but also a smaller imperial palace in northeastern China and traditional streetscapes elsewhere. For decades, much of China's historic architecture faced neglect, demolition, or insensitive modernization. But that trend appears to be reversing. “By and large,” Ho said, “I think the country has woken up to the very, very important task in protecting historical heritage.” The transformation of the Forbidden City—from dilapidated storage depot to a benchmark of global conservation—shows just how far it’s come. And just how much is still possible.

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Scientists Unveil 'Zap-And-Freeze' Brain Imaging to Unlock Parkinson's Mysteries

Scientists have developed a new technique that captures the split-second workings of brain cells—by freezing them in action. The method, dubbed zap-and-freeze, jolts brain tissue with an electrical signal and then rapidly freezes it under high pressure, preserving neurons at the exact moment they’re sending messages. The result is a microscopic snapshot of brain activity in unprecedented detail, and it could open new doors in understanding neurological diseases like Parkinson’s. The research, led by a team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, was published this week in Neuron. The team used brain slices from both mice and humans—donated by patients who had brain lesions surgically removed—and found remarkable similarities between the two. “This approach has the potential to reveal dynamic, high-resolution information about synaptic membrane trafficking in intact human brain slices,” wrote lead author Chelsy Eddings and her colleagues. Synapses are the tiny gaps between neurons where signals get passed from one cell to the next. These signals are carried by vesicles, microscopic sacs that release chemicals to transmit information. Once emptied, the vesicles are recycled through a process called endocytosis, allowing new vesicles to form and keep the messaging going. Using the zap-and-freeze technique, the researchers were able to capture ultrafast endocytosis in action—happening in under 100 milliseconds. That’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it event, far too quick for most imaging techniques to catch. And it’s not just speed. The team identified a specific protein, dynamin1xA, as a key player in the recycling process. That protein could prove vital in understanding how synapses break down in neurodegenerative diseases. “Our findings indicate that the molecular mechanism of ultrafast endocytosis is conserved between mice and human brain tissues,” said cell biologist Shigeki Watanabe, one of the study’s senior authors. That’s encouraging news for researchers who rely on mouse models to study the human brain. This kind of cellular-level detail is especially relevant in conditions like Parkinson’s, where neurons gradually die off. Scientists have long suspected that faulty synapses contribute to the damage, but it's been hard to study in real time. By revealing how vesicle activity and recycling operate in healthy tissue, researchers can better understand what goes wrong in disease states. The next step? Applying the technique to brain samples from Parkinson’s patients who undergo neurosurgery. Those tissues could show how vesicle function is altered in affected brains—and possibly identify early warning signs or intervention points. While there’s still a long road ahead, the potential is significant. Parkinson’s affects more than 10 million people worldwide, and cases are expected to rise as populations age. Treatments currently focus on managing symptoms, but understanding what drives the disease could one day lead to ways of slowing or even preventing it. “We hope this new technique of visualizing synaptic membrane dynamics in live brain tissue samples can help us understand similarities and differences in nonheritable and heritable forms of the condition,” Watanabe said. Zap-and-freeze is one of several advanced methods neuroscientists are developing to study the brain at faster and finer scales. But few offer such a direct window into the heartbeat of brain activity—where a signal starts, a vesicle moves, and a message is sent, all in the blink of an eye.

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UK Sees Record-Breaking Sunshine in 2025, and it Even Boosted Solar Power

Britain has officially had its sunniest year on record, according to the Met Office, with more than 1,600 hours of sunshine logged so far—despite the current gloom of December. As of December 15, the UK had recorded 1,622 hours of sunshine, surpassing the previous high set in 2003. It’s the most sunshine ever recorded in a calendar year since records began in 1910. Most of the record was driven by a remarkable spring and a string of high-pressure systems that cleared skies across the country. England saw its sunniest year ever, while Scotland recorded its second sunniest and Wales its sixth. Northern Ireland didn’t make the top 10 overall, but still had a historic moment: Magilligan in County Derry recorded 301.3 hours of sunshine in May, the highest monthly total ever recorded in any month for Northern Ireland. “Spring was exceptional,” said Mike Kendon, senior scientist at the Met Office. “Many will remember the long spells of days with largely unbroken sunshine.” March was the third sunniest on record, followed by a record-breaking April and the second sunniest May. That stretch made spring 2025 not only the sunniest spring on record but the fourth sunniest season overall—trailing only the summers of 1911, 1976 and 1995. All three summer months this year also saw above-average sunshine, contributing to what Kendon called “a notably sunnier than average” year overall. January brought a bright start, though February was duller. Autumn also underperformed on sunshine, with October joining February as the only months so far to register below-average sunshine totals. While this year’s high-pressure systems played a major role in reducing cloud cover, the Met Office says the UK has generally become sunnier since the 1980s. Scientists suspect falling levels of aerosols in the atmosphere may be part of the explanation, but say there’s currently no clear link to climate change in terms of long-term sunshine trends. That said, the extra sun has had some tangible effects. Solar power surged in 2025, with solar farms meeting more than 6% of the UK’s energy needs—up more than 50% compared to recent years. It was also the hottest summer on record in the UK, and the Met Office says it expects to release more details soon about what has been, overall, a very warm year. Rainfall was lower than usual across much of the country, with some regions recording their driest year on record. While December has been cloudier, the year’s earlier extremes have already secured its place in the books. For a country known for grey skies and drizzle, 2025 will be remembered as the year the sun came out—and stayed.

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Top Philanthropists Donate $5 Billion in 2025, Led by Nike's Phil Knight

The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the year’s biggest individual charitable donations reached a total of $5 billion in 2025, with contributions supporting everything from cancer research to children’s nutrition and university sports. At the top of the list: Phil and Penny Knight, who gave a $2 billion donation to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in August. The gift—representing nearly 40% of the list’s total—will support cancer research and expand services for patients and families at the Knight Cancer Institute. “Every patient deserves access to the best care and the best science,” the couple said in a statement when the gift was announced. Their donation is the latest in a long relationship with the university; the Knights have now given at least $2.7 billion to OHSU since 2008. Second on the list is Warren Buffett, who donated 1.5 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock worth $746.7 million to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the grantmaker named for his late wife. The foundation supports reproductive health programs and scholarships in Nebraska. Buffett’s gift is part of a special set of donations announced in November, separate from his ongoing multi-billion-dollar giving commitments first pledged in 2006. In third place: a $500 million pledge from the late Jackie Bezos and her husband, Mike Bezos, to UNICEF USA. The gift will fund the organization’s Child Nutrition Fund, aimed at improving access to nutritious food for women and children globally. The couple made the pledge just months before Jackie Bezos died in August at age 78. While Jackie and Mike Bezos are not household names, their early investment in Amazon—$245,000 in 1995—has grown into an enormous fortune. The couple previously launched the Bezos Family Foundation and created several education initiatives, including the Bezos Scholars Program and Students Rebuild. Other major gifts in 2025 included: • $600 million across two donations to university athletic programs. • $300 million to build a hospital and expand the healthcare workforce in South Dakota. • About $200 million to a U.S. art museum for an expansion project. Five of the donors on this year’s list are multibillionaires with a comZbined net worth of approximately $190 billion, according to Forbes. Michael and Susan Dell’s announced pledge of $6.25 billion to fund investment accounts for 25 million American children was not included in the list, as it hasn’t yet been directed through a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The Dell Foundation said the funds will be handled by the U.S. Treasury, but details are still being finalized. The Chronicle’s list only includes publicly announced cash gifts made to nonprofit organizations. It excludes gifts of art or donations from anonymous sources. A broader ranking of donors based on total giving throughout 2025, the Philanthropy 50, is scheduled for release in March. For more information or to explore other million-dollar gifts, visit philanthropy.com or browse the Chronicle’s real-time database of large charitable donations.

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This Australian Athlete Just Became the First Female Winner Of the Antarctic Ice Marathon

History was made at the bottom of the world, as Australia’s Catherine Drysdale became the first woman ever to win the Antarctic Ice Marathon outright—beating every runner, male and female, in the grueling 42.2K race. Braving brutal conditions of –8°C with wind chills plunging to –18°C, Drysdale crossed the finish line in 3:48:43, more than six minutes ahead of Russia’s Denis Nazarov, who took the men’s title and overall runner-up spot (3:54:49). Poland’s Joanna Drewnicka-Ogrodnik placed third overall in 4:18:05, marking a rare podium dominated by women. This year marked the 20th edition of the Guinness World Record–recognized “Southernmost Marathon on Earth,” held on Union Glacier in Antarctica. The event saw 53 participants—23 women and 30 men—navigate deep snow and icy winds in one of the most extreme races on the planet. Other notable finishes included Canada’s Victoria Grahn (B.C.), who placed fifth overall and was the third woman to finish (4:25:22). Portugal’s Domitilia Dos Santos, at age 70, also set a milestone by becoming the oldest woman ever to complete the race, finishing in 7:43:14. While Drysdale’s time didn’t surpass the women's course record (3:29:16, set by Liesl Muehlhauser in 2023), her overall win cements her place in Antarctic marathon history—and in a landscape defined by extremes, it was a performance that rose above them all.

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Nine-Year-Old Chess Prodigy Stuns Competitors at UK Open Blitz Championship

Nine-year-old Tara from Leicester is used to turning heads at the chessboard—but not just because of her size. At 4ft 2in (130cm), the quietly confident primary schooler is now one of the top young chess talents in the UK, regularly facing off against seasoned players many times her age. “I play much older people—they get a bit nervous,” she says. “In big tournaments, when we play very fast, they ask, ‘how can this girl play like this?’ And I just keep playing my game and don’t worry about others.” That mindset is working. Tara recently competed in the 2025 UK Open Blitz Championship qualifier, finishing as the top-performing girl in the tournament. She earned a spot in the Women's Final, where she held her own against some of the country’s strongest female players. “People are a bit annoyed when I beat them,” she says, “and maybe a bit sad because they lost to a child.” Tara’s interest in chess started when she was just four, playing casual games with her parents, who are both software engineers. “When I was playing them I was jumping up and down because I was getting excited about what they will do,” she recalls. “I saw a piece—a knight—which can go in an L shape, and I thought they all could go like they’re in an army.” She started attending chess clubs by Year 2 and now trains with a private coach. At home, she frequently discusses tactics and strategies with her dad. “She would sit with her dad and talk about tricks and tactics,” says her mother, Shalini Sathiyaseelan. “She is very quiet and calm. Whenever she goes to tournaments, she prepares for them because every game is different.” While her rise in the chess world may seem meteoric, her family didn’t see it coming at first. “We thought we could support her, get her a coach, and get her to the next level,” says Sathiyaseelan. “But as she kept playing, we could see something grow inside her.” That “something” has already taken her a long way. Tara trains constantly, plays online matches, and has even competed against Masters. “When I played online games against a Master I was getting nervous,” she admits. “But then I started playing and I stopped being nervous.” “Sometimes emotion comes into it,” she adds. “Especially when you make a big move, it can feel emotional. Or when you miscalculate something, it can feel a bit sad. But if you keep playing confidently, you can win. Chess is like a mind game.” Her school, Fairfield Prep in Loughborough, is closely following her journey. Headteacher Andrew Earnshaw called her progress “truly amazing.” “To qualify for the Women’s Final at such a young age is extraordinary,” he said. “To hold her own against some of the strongest female players in the country speaks volumes about her talent, determination and composure.” Despite her success, Tara still has big goals ahead. She’s aiming to be the best chess player in the world for her age—and then some. But her dreams aren’t limited to the board. “I want to be a psychiatrist,” she says, with a grin. “I want to be able to read people’s minds so I can find out my opponent’s next move.” Until then, she’s keeping her moves sharp and her focus steady. And she’s not slowing down.

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