CHENNAI: Grandmasters Prithu Gupta, Raunak Sadhwani and P Iniyan were feted by Microsense Private Limited for bagging the prestigious title. Microsense has been supporting 20 Indian chess players.
Five-time world champ Viswanathan Anand praised the youngsters for living up to the expectations and also lauded the initiative of the company in promoting talent. Anand along with Kailasanathan of Microsense and DV Sundar, Fide vice-president, presented the players `1 lakh each.
Iniyan, Gupta and Raunak are among the brightest talents who became the 63rd, 64th and 65th GMs of the country recently. They are among the 20 youngsters, supported and funded by Microsense. They are also among the six talents who were coached by Vladimir Kramnik as part of the Microsense-Kramnik chess programme in August, 2019.
“I’m happy to felicitate the three GMs. It is vital to have talent and at the same time it makes life easier for the players when you have systematic coaching and something like the Kramnik coaching initiative. I applaud Microsense for their initiative. I will also see what help I can do to benefit the youngsters,’’ said Anand.
India has been producing GMs regularly, but many of them find it hard to climb the ladder thereafter. “There is no magic formula. One needs to work hard, improve, gain exposure and go about the job,’’ said Anand insisting that there is no substitute for hard work.
Raunak agreed with Anand and believed that better exposure would help him compete better at the international level. “The more you play in stronger tournaments, your game will improve. Middle game is my strength. Kramnik sir has asked to improve on my openings and end game.”
Many believe that Anand could have played better in the Isle of Man tournament. “It is difficult to analyse while playing a tournament. I still enjoy playing the game and that’s the motivation to play. I have learnt to adapt a bit more in my preparations keeping in mind the competition and style of play. I will be playing next in Romania,’’ said Anand. Kramnik, too, sent a message praising his wards.