CHENNAI: A marble battlefield alive with soldiers, ready to battle. We don’t know which team will win — black or white. What we do know is that whatever happens on the battlefield is solely the result of the conscious choices we make. Sai Swaroop equates this philosophy of chess to life and advocates his love for the game through his excellence at it. On this International Chess Day, meet this 12-year-old genius, who has won the Tamil Nadu State Level Children’s Chess Championship in 2019 and 2020, and the All India Under 12 Scholastic Online Chess Championship, last year.
The way to championship
Sai Swaroop picked up chess when he was almost four years old, inspired by his father who taught him the basic moves. “When I was a kid, I lived with my cousins who went for chess tournaments. I imbibed the basics from them and later passed them on to my son. Afterwards, Sai started gaining an interest in this and now I am no longer a good opponent for him,” shares his father, Varaprasad.
Chess being an extra-curricular activity at Sai’s school, Velammal New-Gen, motivated him to participate in and train for tournaments. Soon he started doing his advanced training at Crownz & Brainz Academy. Every day, he religiously spends five hours practising his moves. Talking about stress during competitions, he says, “Chess is a stress reliever for me. Since chess demands the presence of mind, I forget anything that disturbs me while playing. It is not an additional activity, instead, it is my passion with which I navigate life itself.”
During the pandemic when there was a sudden halt to all socialising and events, Sai Swaroop considered it a boon. He took time to practise more and create a YouTube channel teaching the basics of the game to his peers. He also prefers playing online chess competitions over live events as “they can be played in a silent room whereas the latter has many distractions.” Speaking about his achievements, his mother, Mahalakshmi J says, “Though he brings home lots of prizes, what I am most proud of is the life lessons he has acquired. He has taken on more responsibilities for himself and is executing them well. He has learnt time management, focus and how to treat failure in a sportive way through chess.”
A future in chess
Even at this young age, Sai Swaroop hopes to create a career out of chess. He is determined to reach more people through the game via his YouTube videos and workshops at school. On this International Chess Day, he is organising a chess tutorial for his schoolmates. “Russia dominates the world of chess with more grandmasters. I want to make use of India’s strength and population and create more chess players. Even if I am contributing in the smallest way, I want to make a difference. When we already have legends like Viswanathan Anand, we can learn from them and get inspired to work for our country,” he proudly admits.