Setting goals and accomplishing them with aplomb has become a way of life for Baskaran Adhiban, the latest chess Grandmaster of the country. He could not have asked for a better gift than what he achieved three days short of his 18th birthday — his third GM norm. Adhiban won a closed GM event, Chess Summer 2010 in Olomouc, the Czech Republic, with an outstanding performance, securing seven points from nine rounds, with five wins and four draws. This victory makes him the 23rd GM of the country and 18th from Tamil Nadu. Besides, he is the second youngest from Tamil Nadu, after Viswanathan Anand, to achieve this feat.
Adhiban was on a government-sponsored exposure trip to Paris and Prague recently. “On completion of the tournaments, I was in a dilemma whether to proceed to Chotowa-Czarna for the Junior World Championship or accept an invitation from Olomouc. It was on my coach K Visweswaran’s advice that I decided to skip the Junior World Championship,” he says.
“I travelled all by myself by train from Prague, a four-hour journey with the language being a great barrier. It proved a costly gamble but the move paid off. I’m happy to have become a GM and proud to join the team of GMs (Krishnan Sasikiran, GN Gopal, P Harikrishna and SS Ganguly) that will represent the country at the Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk this September-October,” says Adhiban.
Adhiban is following in the footsteps of Anand, his idol and well-wisher. Just a year ago, at a felicitation function in Chennai, Anand had predicted that Adhiban was heading in the right direction and would soon become a GM. It did happen but, according to Adhiban, he should have become a GM even earlier. A few tournaments in Spain and Netherlands last year did not go as well as Adhiban would have liked. Last year, he narrowly missed the GM norm three times for want of stronger fields.
Adhiban’s rise has been meteoric. What is most significant is the fact that he holds a few unique records despite the relatively short span of time for which he has played competitive chess. He won the National B in Dindigul in 2007 at the age of 16 to become the youngest player to do so, rewriting Krishnan Sasikiran’s record. What makes this feat more special is that he achieved it in the presence of four GMs — Pravin Thipsay, Parimarjan Negi, Deepan Chakravarthy and Neelotpal Das. Adhiban retained the National B title in Kolkata the next year — the only player to have won it for the second successive time.
Adhiban won the Premier National Championship with a round to spare in Mumbai in 2009 to get his first GM norm. From thereon, he has performed impressively. He tied for first place in the SCS GM Tournament in Bhubaneswar earlier this year to get his second GM norm. Interestingly, he emerged winner in all three tournaments that got him the GM norms.
Adhiban first hogged the limelight by becoming the world under-16 champion in Vietnam in 2008. India has never won a senior team gold in the Olympiad, but Adhiban’s exploits as a top board player enabled India to win gold in the World Youth Olympiad in Singapore (2007) and Turkey (2008).
Adhiban has completed his 12th standard at Velammal Matriculation Higher Secondary School with 88 percent. He is yet to decide on his future course in academics. The IOC has given him a scholarship that takes care of all his needs while playing tournaments in India.
While the All India Chess Federation (AICF) and government have been helpful, Adhiban needs to play more tournaments abroad to grow further. He also needs the assistance of foreign GMs in coaching, and this means more expenditure. He has proved his potential; the need of the hour is a sponsor.
“He has got an invitation from the University of Texas offering him a grant. SRM University and Loyola College from Chennai have also come forward to absorb him, but we are yet to make a decision,” says Adhiban’s father Baskaran. “The initiative of the AICF in introducing numerous age-group category tournaments has undoubtedly helped young players gain a lot of exposure,” says Adhiban.
He is expected to reach a rating of 2515 in the next FIDE list. Adhiban’s next stop will be the Asian Championship in Beijing, followed by the Olympiad, where there will be official confirmation of his GM title.
julian@expressbuzz.com