Carving tomorrow’s grandmasters

Four children,all aged between five and seven,and two coaches huddle around a table,solving chess problems. “Knight to E5,” yells a child. All over the windows insulating the occupants of this third floor space in Kothrud from the rain outside,and on the glass of the sliding partition dividing the space into two rooms,are quotations. One of them,attributed to Viktor Korchnoi,reads: “No chess grandmaster is normal; they only differ in the extent of their madness.”

It certainly was not madness that drove GM Abhijit Kunte and his sister WIM Mrunalini Kunte to start the Kunte Chess Academy in 2007. “Pune had a lot of chess coaches,but there wasn’t a proper set-up. Most were operating out of a room in their house. We thought there was a need for a dedicated academy,” says Mrunalini Kunte.

In these four years since its inception,the academy has expanded rapidly,and now has four branches across the city. “We started with 10-12 students,whom I was already training informally. Now we have almost 150 regulars,who are very serious about chess,apart from a number of people who learn chess as a hobby.”

The serious players train in small batches,typically around four-six players per session,to ensure individual attention. The academy also offers online coaching. “We have people taking net coaching in four-five countries,like the US,Canada,Australia,Kenya and South Africa,” says Kunte.

Apart from regular training,the academy also conducts a number of short-duration camps. “Neeraj Mishra visits about seven-eight times a year to conduct camps that last around 15-20 days.”

“We’ve had Verghese Koshy as well,and camps by (Elizbar) Ubilava,who is Viswanathan Anand’s coach,and (Evgeny) Vladimirov,who has been Garry Kasparov’s second during the World Championships.”

Players,who have been trained by the Kuntes,include Soumya Swaminathan,Eesha Karavade,Kruttika Nadig and Swati Ghate and they all have gone on to become WGMs. “A lot of the top women players in India are from Pune.”

Male players from the city,however,haven’t enjoyed similar levels of success. “Abhijit (Kunte) became GM in 2000. We are still waiting for the next one from Pune.”

Why is this so? “Boys tend to have more pressure to focus on their academics,” she says. “At some point,when they are in classes IX or X,they shift their focus to studies. Plus,in Maharashtra,it is not that easy for chess players to get sponsorships or jobs. As far as I know,West Bengal,Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh governments promote chess quite well,and there are a lot of sponsors.”