An olde world8217; prodigy

Krishnan Sasikiran, 18, is the epitome of enterprise, creativity and modesty. With two Grandmaster norms under his belt the second comin...

Krishnan Sasikiran, 18, is the epitome of enterprise, creativity and modesty. With two Grandmaster norms under his belt the second coming with his Asian junior triumph in Vietnam last week, Sasi is on his way to becoming India8217;s fourth Grandmaster after Viswananthan Anand, Dibyendu Barua and Pravin Thipsay.

It is only natural that there be comparisons with Anand and Barua. But the fact is, while being a prodigy of sorts like the former two, Sasi is different. While Anand was already the complete player with the extra advantage of being one of the fastest in the business when he became the Grandmaster at 18, Barua had his own queer areas of weaknesses openings and strengths technical perfection which still live with him. Sasikiran8217;s forte is his understanding of the game, an area in which he is compared with the Russian GMs.

The interesting observation came former national champion Ponnuswamy Konguvel, who said while he and the rest of the International Masters from Chennai would try to recollectpositions from modern giants like Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand, 8220;Here was a boy Sasi who would invariably reel out positions from the games played by Capablanca and Alekhine world champions in the pre-World War II period.8221;

Sasikiran started his chess career rather late in comparison to the likes of Surya Sekhar Ganguly or Pentala Harikrishna, who were already ripe to pick up their medals in the world age-group championships at this age. Sasi8217;s father Krishnan, a bank employee who later gave up his job to help his son pursue his career, was a respected tournament player in Chennai and that certainly helped his cause.

In four years Sasi was already a strong player in the national age-group championships. He finished second in the 1994 U-16 nationals and got the silver in the Asian u-16 championships in 1995 Iran and 1996 Qatar. In 1995, he was also the under-18 champion Bangalore.

But compared to the rest of his publicised-peers in the age-group, Sasi was not quite a regular success in thenationals. He was never the National junior champion and this Bangalore success was to be his only major title for a long time until he won the National B in Kozhikode in 1997.

Yet Sasi was gaining in respect and rating year after year. From 2275 India No 60 on 1-1-96, he climbed to 2430 India No 4 on 1-7-97.

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This was the period when Sasi and his father took a bold decision to embark on a tour of Canada and England with sponsorship. Having won his second IM norm in Goodricke in 1997 the first having come from under-18 World meet in Brazil, he earned three IM norms in just two months during the trip British, Northumbrian and GM event in Stoke to become one of the youngest IMs India has ever produced.

Sasi was getting better and better every month after this. The Indian Independence Grandmaster event at Kozhikode last year was a platform for him to start his GM-norm hunt. He did exceedingly well there though another Indian, Abhijit Kunte hogged the limelight winning a GM norm and the trophy. Sasifinished third and missed a GM norm narrowly.

Sasi won his maiden GM norm at the British Championship soon after and then was back in the hunt in Elista in the Olympiad where he was the top scorer for India. Sasi was in the race for a medal on the third board in the Olympiad. Later, in the World junior in Kozhikode, Sasi finished seventh after tying for the 5-9 slots.

It is still strange that he has not yet won a National junior championship. This year, he finished second to his friend and sparring partner Sunderajan Kidambi, who opted for the World junior in Yerevan while Sasi8217;s lot was to go for the Asian junior in Vietnam. As luck would have it, what a break the second place in India gave him!