These young juniors are among the new breed of chess champions from Chennai after the chess boom started by Viswanathan Anand. They were born one day apart in 1998, they study at the same school and are currently ranked No 2 and 3 at the national level in the U-16 category.
Both train under GM RB Ramesh at Chess Gurukul and have a burning desire to make it to the top of the chess ladder and have each won multiple titles.
They are precocious 15-year-olds GK Monnisha and M Mahalakshmi. Both consider the middle game to be their strength though they favour different opening styles (Monnisha favours the King Pawn opening to Mahalaksmi’s Queen Pawn).
Rivals they may be when facing each other on the board, but outside competition, they are close friends, having known each other since 2005 and they spend a lot of time together as they play a lot of domestic and international tournaments. They have faced each other for national and world titles. While Monnisha has won the national championship five times annexing the U-15 title this year, the Commonwealth gold last year (U-14) and World bronze (U-14), Mahalakshmi has won the World U-14 title at Slovenia, the Asian U-10 title in 2008 and the National U-7 in 2005. Each has made a big jump in the FIDE ratings in the last three months – Monnisha to 2150 and Mahalakshmi to 2116.
Monnisha’s journey in chess began at the age of seven at the behest of her father, Kannaiyan who was very interested in chess while Mahalakshmi got interested at age five after seeing her sister do well at the state level.
Both count Anand among their idols. Monnisha also likes the attacking style of former champion Garry Kasparov and challenger Magnus Carlsen too. Mahalakshmi gushes that her favourite players are Anand and Koneru Humpy.
Do the girls find it difficult to juggle both chess and education since they have to spend at least 5-7 hours on chess training everyday? They said that their school (Velammal) has provided them enough leeway regarding their attendance so that they can play tournaments and at times financial support too when they play events abroad. Mahalakshmi, who doesn’t come from an affluent family, said she was also helped by DV Sundar, vice-president of FIDE, and got a sponsorship from Rotary Club which came about with support from Anand and her coach Ramesh.
So how excited are the youngsters about the world championship being held in Chennai and what’s their feeling about the match? Monnisha says that it will be a tough fight since both are very good players and it is difficult to predict who will triumph. Mahalakshmi hopes that Anand will win. They are very excited to see Anand and Carlsen play in person. Both teenagers aim to become Grandmasters one day and their dreams could come true soon if they progress in the same manner.