Eesha Karavade becomes eighth Indian WGM

On a lookout for a sponsor after her contract with Wipro ended, Eesha achieved her first WGM norm coming in the recent international chess festival at Pune, last year. Thereafter, she took giant strides to win her second WGM norm at the World Juniors in Kochi. When asked who did she credit her achievements with, Eesha was quick to shoot back: ‘‘No one’’, quickly adding that it was only her parents who were behind her success.

Although, she sees GM Abhijit Kunte and WGM Swati Ghate as the guiding force and is currently coaching under M Sriniwas of Andhra Pradesh. As of now, the new WGM plans to keep her books aside and is planning to pursue chess full time. After a lean season — a year ago — when victories refused to come her way, Eesha was elated to recall how good the last one and half year had been for her. ‘‘I say this has come late because there weren’t any international tournaments in India and living in Pune reduced the chances of playing in big events even further,’’ she said.