Knights To The Fore

Vishy’s win has given the game a further boost, but then chess is anyway the fastest growing sport in Indian cities in the last few years. Why didn’t he push his son towards cricket, people would ask J.B. Singh Negi 10 years ago, when, to everyone’s surprise, his son Parimarjan showed more inclination towards knights and bishops than the cover drive or reverse swing. Now, parents pose a different query about his son, who at 13 became the youngest Indian chess Grandmaster: could you give us tips on how to turn our child into a chess master? Negi Sr isn’t surprised. “Back when Parimarjan started playing, some 15-20 children used to appear for the state championship in Delhi. Now there are at least 500 kids,” he says. There has not been a better time for the game with chess clubs, academies and chess coaches springing up by the dozen in cities big and small. There are 27 Indian GMs today and young stars like Parimarjan, Harika Dronavalli, Humpy Koneru, Vaibhav Suri and N. Srinath are all heroes in their respective states, all Anands waiting in the wings to join those already on their way like, P. Harikrishna and S. Vijaylakshmi.

Children practise their moves at Delhi’s Russian Cultural Centre. (Photograph by Sanjay Rawat)

The scene at one of Delhi’s oldest chess clubs, the Botwinnik Chess Academy at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture, is in a sense a mirror for what’s happening in many neighbourhoods today. On alternate weekday evenings, a bunch of fresh, eager young faces troop in to work the chess boards, take ‘demo lessons’ from tutors and learn tricks of the trade. Sisters Siddhi and Samriddhi Datri Mishra, aged 13 and 10, joined the club a month ago to polish their skills. Cheeks flushed red from the excitement of the evening’s game, the sisters tell us that they are team leaders at their school chess classes. “We hope to reach the district level championship this year. To prepare, we practise everyday after school and on weekends with our father,” says Siddhi. With chess finding a spot in many school curriculums, the sport has scores of takers. Ian Whiteman, who heads the chess club at Woodstock School, Mussourie, says, “I started the chess club last year with just a few students. This year, the number has already hit 60. We now have the seniors mentoring future junior school chess champions.”

For some, it’s the new cool but for others it’s the intellectual workout that attracts them to the board. Which is what drew Pratibha Thakur to a chess club in Delhi to engage her son, Vinay, 6, though she rues the lack of “systematic training” for kids who know nothing about the game. “No doubt, chess has the ability to take a child’s IQ way higher,” says coach Nasir Wajih at the Botwinnik Academy. It also helps channel restlessness and develops focus. “When Mitrava was 2-3 years old, we found him to be overly listless. We gave him a chessboard to fool around with, and he started playing with it unconsciously, just moving the pieces about. Now he’s 11 and I can see how much the game has shaped his mind,” says Raj Guha.

At the A2H Chess Academy in Hyderabad. (Photograph by P. Anil Kumar)

Raj Guha with son Mitrava at their home in Calcutta. (Photograph by Sandipan Chatterjee)

But chess can also be a lonely pursuit, it can make children aloof, avoid other classmates and outdoor games. One tip that all experts have for kids taking up chess: take up another sport and exercise on the side. So you have Harika Dronavalli, all of 21 and one of the top players in the country, who loves to go for a run whenever she can manage an hour out from her schedule, even while touring. Or Parimarjan, who is a regular at the gym. Or an even younger Devashish Gupta, a 10-year-old budding player in Delhi who also plays the guitar and can hold his own on a tennis court. Vishwanathan Anand says he takes long walks to relax (see interview). “Chess is a very psychological sport, where cognitive skills are in focus. So a distraction like developing a hobby and indulging in a physical sport works well for a serious chess player’s regimen,” says psychologist Shraddha C. Sankulkar, who has helped young chess and cricket players deal with the pressures of professional sport.

As popularity peaks, the pressures in competitive chess are at an all-time high too. Even though chess is more accessible to the younger lot today, Barua reckons they would have to labour harder to make a mark. Starting young has its benefits, believes Harika, as you can capitalise on a clutter-free mind. It gets harder to focus as you grow older, she explains. But one should not start too early either, warn experts, as the chances of dropping out are higher then. The sheer number of tournaments—from Under-6 to Under-18—make it important to stay active on the circuit all year long. The prize monies are also beginning to get better. Anand got $1.4 million or about Rs 8 crore for his world title. That may seem astronomical but top players don’t earn too badly in the Indian circuits either. Many national-level tournaments which are on year-long have prize money in the range of Rs 2-3 lakh. Then there are the many lucrative international tourneys.

Most senior players are also coaches, which gets them a steady income. But chess as a career is still a tough option. “We prefer not talking about financial issues surrounding Parimarjan’s game when he is around. Why burden him with it when he is already under tremendous pressure to be consistent?” reasons Negi’s father. Pressure, sometimes, cannot be avoided, feels Raj Guha. “Financial support is hard to come by, which means often my wife and I can’t accompany our son on tours.”

But a star player like Harika makes light of such pressures. She says you have to have fun playing chess, or there’s no point. “I train for at least seven hours a day, but it comes easy to me. When I take a break, I watch a film or listen to music.” Ask her how she stays motivated and she giggles over the phone from Georgia, where she is away at a tournament. “Chess is a habit for me, I can’t do without it. That’s what keeps me going.” The winner, clearly, is chess here. Viva Vishy.

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Chess-Thumpers

How to equip your child for life on the 64 squares

• Computers Garry Kasparov’s 1995 duel with IBM’s Deep Blue was dubbed the ultimate man-machine faceoff. Computers have come a long way since to become a player’s best friend. Handheld gadgets like Excalibur, Saitek and Novag (with their own ELO ratings) allow beginners and experts to hone skills at different levels.
• Programs Chess engines like Crafty and Fruit can be downloaded for free. Established players swear by Houdini, Fritz and Shredder, whose non-commercial versions are free. Open source fans can go for Blitzin, Stockfish, Dasher. Till caught out for “digital doping”, Rybka was a four-time world champ.
• Books Power Chess For Kids by Charles Hertan is recommended reading for young chess players to sharpen tactics and strategies. Chess Informant 113: Garry’s Choice. Bedside reading for budding chess fanatics, it has Kasparov critiquing top games of modern chess.
• Websites Online chess has revolutionised chess practice and quality. It allows players to choose their time, convenience, opponents at will, 24x7. On sites like chessclub.com, playchess.com, chess-live.com, worldchessnetwork.com, fans can access over 1,50,000 games for a fee; freechess.org is, of course, free.
• Clubs Across India, hundreds of chess clubs and schools have sprung up, offering training through the year, often at the hands of former pros. A number of grandmasters and international masters also offer online coaching classes for a fee. But at the end of the day, there is nothing like match practice.

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Check, Mates

The young rooks who are making a name for themselves

Magnus Carlsen The Norway chess prodigy is No. 1 in the world, and he’s just 21. He beat our own Vishwanathan Anand in 2010’s Chess Oscar by a small margin.

Sergey Karjakin The 22-year-old Russian prodigy became the youngest International Master at age 11, and the youngest Grandmaster at age 12.

Harika Dronavalli Only the second Indian woman to win a GM title, the 21-year-old chess player already has an Arjuna Award in her kitty. She’s now eyeing the women’s No. 1 spot.

Parimarjan Negi The 19-year-old talented star become the youngest ever Indian to win the Grandmaster title at 13, and is the second youngest GM in the world.

Anish Giri The prolific 17-year-old star from the Netherlands is among the few pro chess players who attends regular school, writes articles on chess.

N. Srinath The latest star on the firmament, Srinath won the Asian Junior Chess C’ship in Tashkent last Thursday, beating V. Jahongir of Uzbekistan. Earns his first GM stripes too.

Vaibhav Suri 15-year-old Vaibhav is the newest spark in Indian chess, bagging the Grandmaster title only last month.

Padmini Rout The talented young player from Orissa is now a Woman GM, and even has an Eklayva award to her credit.

By Neha Bhatt with Akhila Krishnamurthy and Smita Mitra