Dinesh waiting to join the IM bandwagon

Self-taught, Dinesh hails from Kanpur and what started as a hobby, turned into a passion over a period of time. His initiation into chess gradually took shape as he began spending much time going through books and analysing the games of reputed players.

“I never underwent any coaching. And I strongly believe in my instincts,” said Dinesh, employed in the Kanpur branch of LIC.

Dinesh made waves in the domestic circuit by finishing second in the National junior (u-18) tournament at Bikanir and later in the Asian junior in Iran where he bagged a silver.

At the Macau-leg of Asian junior, he occupied the 10th slot. “I participated in the Ubeda city tournament especially to get my IM norm,” said Dinesh, who won his maiden National title at the 9th Andhra Gymkhana u-25 Youth tournament which concluded here on Monday.

He was selected for the World Youth Championships twice but could not make it as there was no government clearance. In his 11 years of active chess, he has played in over 30 Nationals in all age groups.

Dinesh, who likes the attacking game style of Garry Kasparov, believes in playing positional game. “My strengths are my middlegame strategy. But my openings are my Achilles heel. Most of the players from North are weak in their openings when compared to South because of the non-availability of theory texts,” he said, and added that he used to often run into time trouble.“Now, I have minimised it.”

Dinesh, who has a Fritz 5 chess base at home, practices four hours daily and his favourtie opening is Sicilian Alpine and always prefers to defend in Slav or Ruy Lopez.

Unlike, teenage sensation P Harikrishna, this UP lad might have taken three years to reach his milestone, but he has all the necessary inputs in him to progress further.