Girish Koushik is the wonder kid of Karnataka chess. The Mysore lad made the state proud in the summer of 2006 when he went on to win the World Youth chess championship, thus becoming the fi rst player from the state to earn the FIDE Masters norm. Sitting with 2293 FIDE (Federation International de Chess) is just 107 points short of earning International Master and needs another 307 points to be crowned as the Grand Master of Chess.
The 14-year-old Grade 9 student of St Thomas School Mysore, Girish launched his season with a title win at the State sub junior chess championship on Tuesday.
Enjoying his summer vacation, Koushik is in no mood to relax but is busy planning strategy for the rest of the season in his bid to improve his FIDE rating.
“I am working hard for the remaining season. The state championship win will bolster my morale. I have to play more international tournaments and beat the best if I have to improve my FIDE points and graduate to bigger norms,” said Koushik, who was conferred with Ekalavya award in 2010 for his magnifi cent feat.
Apart from his World Youth Chess championship victory in Georgia, he has several international wins to boot. He has won the Commonwealth Chess U-14 gold in Delhi in May last year and clinched two Asiad gold medals (2005 U-8 Asiad Chess in Delhi and 2008 U-12 Iran Asiad).
Koushik, the two-time National champion, was part of the India team which won the silver at the Turkey Chess Olympiad in 2009.
Koushik has tournaments lined up for him ahead of the season. He will kickstart his nationals in U-15 category in Chennai from May 14-22 before fl ying overseas. Preparations are on as he will take part in the Asian Chess Games to be held in Philippines in May.
Thereafter he will jet out to South Africa for the Commonwealth Chess (June 25 to July 3) before landing in Brazil for the World Championship.
With paucity of funds, Koushik once thought of calling it quits but timely intervention of the state government helped him win some more laurels. “The govt promised land and money for Commonwealth Games winners but when we asked they said chess is not part of the govt grant scheme. A gold is a gold and we request the govt to consider chess wins also for grants,” requested Koushik.