Walking a few steps with a future queen
When it comes to talented girls in Indian chess 2007 born Savitha Shri is one of the most prominent. She is the current under-12 World Champion. But for all those following her journey into the world of chess know that she and her family are facing a tough time to make their ends meet. Savitha's father Baskar left his job as an electrician in Dubai and is now travelling around with Savitha to ensure that his daughter gets to play in more tournaments. Reading about the talent of the young girl, and the dedication of the father on ChessBase India, Deepan Subbiah, an engineer and a chess lover in London, decided to sponsor Savitha's two tournaments in Austria. Not only that, he travelled from London to Lienz to see the girl in action and spend some memorable time with her, which he recounts in this beautiful article.
Walking a few steps with a future queen
By Deepan Subbiah
Chess has been a big part of my life since my dad taught me
this beautiful game when I was 10. Through my school and university life, I
played in quite a few tournaments and while I was never mixing it with the top
strong players, I always enjoyed a game of it at any time. Chasing other
ambitions meant that my professional chess career never really took off but the
game stays with me and casual online chess is the norm for me these days.
So while my own chess career plateaued early, Chess in India
has made massive strides since Viswanathan Anand burst into the scene. With 5
classical world titles courtesy of Vishy and 60 grandmasters, India is now a
proud chess powerhouse.
Whats even more exciting is the lineup of fabulous young
talent coming up through the ranks. Nihal Sarin, Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa to name
a few have come through brilliantly and given elite GMs a scare at a very young
age (Yes, Magnus! We are coming for your title!). These are absolutely exciting
times for Indian chess. But we can’t let it just be a golden era that fades, we
need to make sure that we keep it going and for that there is a need for more
strength at the grass roots level that provides budding talent the support they
need to make it through into top level chess.
Playing competitive chess in international tournaments is an
expensive venture. You might get subsidised accommodation from the organisers
but overall trip costs for young players and their guardians when you factor in
flights etc. are quite high and for players who don’t have full sponsors yet,
these could simply be prohibitive. But maybe us chess lovers can help with
providing a platform for those young players where possible?
So when I read Sagar Shah’s article seeking help for Savitha
Shri, the girls under-12 world champion, I knew I had to play my role. This was
too precious a talent. I reached out to her father Baskar to let him know I
would like to sponsor her to play at an international tournament and when he
said she was keen on playing at Lienz and Graz in Austria, we had it sorted.
What’s more, I made the trip to Lienz from London to see Savitha play in person
and get to know more about this budding chess queen.
So after I got to Lienz which is a trek in itself given its
location deep in south west Austria and made my way to the playing hall of the
DolomitenBank Lienz open, I met Savitha for the first time. Diminutive,
unassuming and soft spoken, I could see her eyes sparkle with love and passion
for the game.
After a few minutes of chat, it was time for round 1. She
was paired against a player rated about 450 Elo over her. Playing black, she
played bold, positive, attacking chess. In the end, she couldn’t quite convert it to a win but
Savitha's opponent would consider himself lucky to have gotten away with a draw.
The composure and skill she displayed over the board was
incredible for her age, and it has doubled my excitement for India’s new golden
generation of young chess players. After the round, we had a quick chat about
the game and then her dad invited me over for dinner at their accommodation in
Lienz. Baskar’s story is inspirational in itself. He quit his job in Singapore
to work full time on his daughter’s chess career and personally cooks her food
everyday when she is playing. We sat around and had lovely sambar rice while
talking even more chess, how she had played Magnus Carlsen in a simul and had
been Anand’s flag bearer to the the stage at the 2013 world championship in
Chennai.
I asked Savitha what her favourite openings were. ‘Reti and
Sicilian’ came the answer, unsurprising given the style of play I had seen from
her. Both open ended, fighting opening choices. She was following the games on
the other boards online over dinner and her food had to take the backseat (to
the slight dismay of her dad!).
How you deal with failure is as important as how you deal
with success. On day 2, there were a couple of defeats to for her to deal with
against opponents rated a good chunk above her. Her ambitious style of play
leaving a few gaps in defence that her opponents were able to exploit. She
analysed those games meticulously to find out where those gaps were opened but
when she was back on the board, there was no change to her creative style of
play. Just adjustments learnt from the losses.
While I was camped around Savitha’s board most of the time,
I also got to see a battle of generations between Bhagyashree Thipsay and
another emerging young star Raunak Sadhwani on board 4. Raunak recently gave
Vishy a scare at the Isle of Man tournament before the former world champion
wriggled out of a difficult position and eventually won. This specific
encounter between Bhagyashree and Raunak ended in a draw. Pranav Anand was also
in action at Lienz.
So after having the privilege of watching one of Indian
Chess’s top young chess talents up close over 3 rounds, it was time for me to
head back home inspired. But this is only the start of her journey, She has a
long way to go and there is more help needed for her to play further
international tournaments. This is an opportunity for all of us to provide a
precocious talent with the platform she needs to progress. Together, we all
win.
About the author:
Deepan Subbiah is digital product engineer living in London with a passion for chess. He loves programming, climbing, racing and reading ChessBase! He also writes from time to time on medium.com
