CHENNAI: A son making the country proud by winning a gold medal at the World Youth Chess Championship could be the best present any parent can ask for. And S P Sethuraman did exactly that. On Monday he won the U-16 gold at Antalya, Turkey, to become the only Indian to come first in this year’s event.
It was one step ahead of last year’s performance where he won silver in Vietnam.
Chess has been everything to this family. Rightly so for Sethuraman’s parents, S Panaiappan and P Deivanai are full time chess coaches. Panaiappan runs the Kilpauk Chess Academy and his wife joins him in taking class at the Rajaji Bhawan’s School.
“We have put in all what we had for the betterment of our son’s career in chess, so to say, he is our only investment. A call from the manager of Indian contingent confirming to us of Sethu’s triumph was the news we were waiting for. Thanks to God, my son has done it. I could not control myself and tears of joy rolled down my cheeks,” said the proud father who has been training Sethu right from his childhood days.
Panaiappan has been a good chess player himself and played up to the National B, but due to financial constraints in the family could not go any higher. “I lost my father when I was 10 and my mother discouraged me. It was when I decided that my son should achieve what I was denied of. When Sethu was four I realised he had the potential to make it big in chess. I gave him all what he wanted. I even sold a two ground plot to enable him to go abroad for training. All my efforts have not gone waste,” he said.
“My son has a disciplined way of working. He starts the day with meditation, followed by yoga and is on his laptop till lunch and then goes to the gym in the evening. Controlled diet with a timely follow-up is his regular beat. To avoid any sort of distraction we don’t have a cable connection to our television. Despite devoting much of his time for the game he was able to score 83% in the 10th exams,” said his mother who accompanies him for most of the tournaments. “
“This time I could not go because my husband underwent a surgery last month and my presence was required here,” she said.
“Thanks to the efforts of D V Sundar, the secretary of AICF, players are able to go abroad in the Sports Authority of India’s Talent Search and Training Scheme. Sethu played at the French Open in Paris and the Politiken Cup in Denmark early this year and it really helped him to gain more exposure. In Chennai he goes to GM R B Ramesh to clear his doubts. What made a big impact in Sethuraman’s career was bringing in Alexander Goloschapov of Ukraine for a two-week special training in Chennai. Incidentally, Alexander trains Judit Polgar,” he said.
“The Velammal school management have time and again paid the airfare for his trips and extended monetary support too. Last year, the management paid my son Rs 75,000 cash award for his silver medal showing in Vietnam,” he added.