CHENNAI: Mokwaledi Tingwane, the secretary general of the Botswana Chess Federation, was busy correcting the wrong moves of kids on the giant chess board at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai last year. That is when Mokwaledi was challenged by the audience members who were present there to play against a seven-year-old AS Sharvaanica, a young chess player from Tamil Nadu.
When he saw Sharvaanica, she was only the size of a queen piece on the giant chess board. She was scared but agreed to play with the Botswana senior. Mokwaledi engaged with her during the game through his dancing movements on the board as Sharvaanica was a bit confused about playing on a three-dimensional chess board with giant pieces. In the end, Mokwaledi was amazed by the moves of the seven-year-old and grabbed her by pushing his King piece down after losing the game to her. “It was a proud moment for us as her parents and he (Mokwaledi) blessed her wholeheartedly,” Sharvaanica’s mother, Anburoja told this daily.
Until the Covid lockdown, Sharvaanica, hailing from Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu, did not know anything about the game. Her elder sister, AS Ratshikaa was struggling to find a partner to play chess with during lockdown. Finally, she taught her sister about the moves and pieces of chess. Sharvaanica, who was already talented at telling the multiplication table reciprocally up to 19, found it easy to learn the board game. The interest shown by the then five-year-old made her parents, Saravanan and Anburoja, sign up Sharvaanica for online coaching.
Even during the online sessions, she showcased brilliance on the board and won many competitions. Those victories qualified her to participate in the U-7 Asian Chess Championship. However, the financial constraints in their family forced them to back out of the competition. Despite being upset that she couldn’t make it, she kept practising from dawn to dusk. “It was a sad situation for us. We know that our child deserves more, but in that tough time, we couldn’t afford that sum, which also made our little one so desperate,” said Anburoja, who is currently looking for someone to sponsor Sharvaanica.
After the lockdown, she appeared in the state tournament and finished second in that championship. She clinched her first-ever national title in the national-level school championship in Odisha. It was at this time that she was invited to the Hatsun Chess Academy in Sivakasi. There, Sharvaanica was selected for their training programme under GM Vishnu Prasanna, who also coaches GM D Gukesh.
The year 2022 was a fruitful year for the prodigy, as Sharvaanica created history by winning all eleven games at the nationals in the U-7 category hosted in Ahmedabad. She continued the feat in the Asian School Championship held in Sri Lanka by winning 23 out of 23 across all three formats; classic, rapid, and blitz, along with other titles. “After training under Vishnu Prasanna sir, her game has improved a lot, and he trusted her even when many people questioned her age. Also, winning all the games in these two tournaments gave her the name ‘100% girl of India’,” Anburoja said.
Currently, Sharvaanica has a 1407 FIDE rating after winning gold in U8 rapid and blitz and silver in the classical format at last month’s Asian youth championship held in Al Ain, UAE. The nine-year-old, who is an admirer of GM Viswanathan Anand, is aiming to surpass Abhimanyu Mishra and become the youngest Grandmaster in the world. “I am the biggest fan of Vishy sir. I want to become the world’s youngest GM in a year,” said Sharvaanica signing off.