HYDERABAD: Winning the Candidates Tournament on Monday, Gukesh D, Tamil Nadu’s teenage chess prodigy also went ahead of Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana in the live ratings to become India’s top-ranked player. “Apart from his stellar game, I felt Gukesh’s confidence and energy in this tournament were the driving points,” the country’s 70th Grandmaster, Raja Rithvik, told TNIE.
While he was participating in a tournament in Spain during that time, Raja used to watch the Candidates daily. “It was an exciting tournament, especially as an Indian, because there were three strong players from the country. Also, in a regular tournament, you would see a lot of draws, but in Candidates, everyone went for the win, so the draws were less. There were a lot of new opening ideas, which usually players don’t reveal. But they were playing with a fighting spirit to win.”
A native of Manthani town in Peddapalli district, he achieved the coveted GM title in 2021 at 17. With a live FIDE rating of 2,532, he stands at 457th spot globally and 34th in India.
Raja, then 17, had a shaky start to the season after the Covid-induced lockdown was lifted, when the chess fraternity returned to over-the-board games after playing online for over a year. “The first two tourneys did not go well. But I kept on playing, and in another five to six tournaments, I got my two norms and became a GM,” he said.
About his mantra of never giving up, he remarked, “There are times when you feel things are not moving forward, but then you just need to keep working on your game. At some point it starts paying off. Even though online chess was good during Covid, it is not important for titles unlike the over-the-board games.”
Following in father’s footsteps
At a young age, Raja was introduced to the game of 64 squares by his father, Srinivasa Rao Rajavaram, an electrical engineer in the TSSPDCL and a chess player during his college days. “I started playing chess at the age of seven because of my father. He used to be a chess player in college and even won the office board tournament. Gradually, I started developing an interest in the game, and after that, my parents enrolled me in a summer camp in Warangal,” he said
Raja’s first coach, Bollam Sampath, recalled the time when the former won his first championship. “He became the state champion (undivided Andhra Pradesh) in the under-7 category in 2011. Then he was selected for nationals in Pune, where he finished in the eighth spot,” Sampath, who has also coached Erigaisi, told TNIE.
At the age of eight, Raja, who is now an engineering student at KL University in Hyderabad, moved to the city with his family. After training under a few coaches, he sought coaching under the tutelage of NVS Ramaraju, who has trained both Erigaisi as well as grandmaster Dronavalli Harika, from 2016 to 2019.
“He has really shaped my career. There were many players at his (RACE academy in Madhapur) academy, so there was a competitive atmosphere there. It is a kind of motivation that I required,” pointed out Raja, who became an International Master (IM) while training under Ramaraju at the age of 14.
“He is a good player for his age. His opening game knowledge is good, and he plays sharp openings nowadays,” Ramaraju told TNIE.
Right before the pandemic, the Telangana chess prodigy switched coaching camps and started training under Ukrainian chess trainer and GM Aleksander Goloshchapov, popularly credited as the coach who has helped 10 Indians become GMs.
“Aleksander was widely known, and I recruited him for his reputation. It worked out well. I was more of a positional player, but his approach was dynamic and improved my endgame,” Raja explained.
Akin to any sportsperson, the contribution of Raja’s parents is immense for his steadfast growth. His mother, Deepika Rajavaram, left her job as a lecturer to accompany him to tournaments.
On how she helps him cope with a bad day during a tournament, Deepika said, “If he loses, I just tell him to focus on the next game and improve. The technicalities he discusses with his father, as I don’t know much about the game.”
Raja is taking online sessions from international coaches these days. His mother wishes he finds a sponsor soon due to the rising coaching prices. “They are as high as $100 (about Rs 8,340) per hour. So, to limit spending, he takes classes only once or twice a week. If there is a sponsor, then the number of training hours can increase,” she said.
For Raja, cash rewards for at least the GMs from the state government are an integral way to uplift the morale of players. “There are not as many cash rewards in our state. When I talk to other players, they also agree. Except for Vupulla Praneeth, who got Rs 2.50 crore from the previous government, none of the players have been rewarded,” he lamented.
Comparing the monetary reward provided by the state with Tamil Nadu, considered the powerhouse of chess in India, “In TN, if someone does well, the government immediately rewards them either in cash or some other way.”
The GM, who won a bronze and a silver at the National Rapid and National Blitz Championship in March at Nashik, Maharashtra, is now gearing up for the Sharjah Masters in the UAE to be held in May. “My ultimate aim is to become an elite player and fight for the Candidates. But I am focused on one step at a time. First, I want to go past 2600 [FIDE Elo rating],” Raja asserted.