Feel like I have conquered the Himalayas’

PUNE, FEBRUARY 14: For once, he proved Vishwanathan Anand wrong. India's first Grand Master had bet on Krishnan Sasikiran as the country's...

PUNE, FEBRUARY 14: For once, he proved Vishwanathan Anand wrong. India’s first Grand Master had bet on Krishnan Sasikiran as the country’s fourth GM ahead of Abhijit Kunte. But 23-year-old Abhijit took him on, proving the prophecy wrong. With patience and calm as his partners, he has finally moved his way into the elite club of Indian GMs.

For Abhijit, however, the road to glory was not so smooth. Abhijit came into limelight suddenly winning the National `A’ championship in 1996 and then the first two GM norms in quick succession (at Asian Junior Championship in Jaipur, 1997 and India Independence GM Championship in Calicut, 1998).

With the double GM norm under his belt and going by his form during that time, the expectations from this young lad rose to a high and the pressure started mounting up. It did affected Abhijit’s preparation too.

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“Certainly, the pressure on me to deliver the goods was difficult to handle. Every time I went to play a tournament in India or abroad, I had a kind of fear in theback of my mind to perform, perform and perform.”

“But than I don’t blame or complain all those who expected me to become a GM. Actually, they are the ones who stood behind me and were the source of inspiration.”

In terms of Abhijit’s calculations, he had expected to become a GM in 1999. “I should have attained the title last year itself.” But the fate had some anxious moments to offer this young aspirant. From the time of the second norm, Abhijit missed the coveted final norm by a whisker on many an occasion in the last two years.

However, the hard work has paid off. “Today, I just feel relaxed. I feel like I have conquered the Himalayas.”

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But in Abhijit’s success, it’s the success for his family too. And the most happy among the family of five should be Vibhavari, his elder sister who was his first mentor.

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