Howzzat? In cricket capital, kids flock to chessboard

One group would travel daily from Vashi, New Mumbai to Juhu, a round trip of 100-odd km and a late-night journey back home. Students of Father Agnel School, the foursome also signed up for the training programme that was being conducted parallel to the tournament. ‘‘I wanted to see how the top GMs play. I want to learn from their game’’, said Utkarsha Gupta.

And it seemed they had learned something. ‘‘These kids are very special’’, said International Master Verghese Koshy, who conducted the camp. ‘‘One day, one of them, Ishan Nadkarni, watched and studied a particular combination — a complicated one — played by Grandmaster Sasikiran. The next day he came to the academy and explained what it was all about.’’

Even the junior participants — more than 25 per cent of the 137 players, including 23 GMs, were below 18 — were there to pick up experience. The youngest of them all, National Under-7 champ Rucha Pujari, travelled from Kolhapur and picked up a silver medal. But, she says, she picked up something else equally important: ‘‘The experience of watching the top players and also playing against them has added to my confidence.’’

Chess is no longer confined, as it once was, to pockets in the southern and eastern states and Maharashtra. From Patiala to Patna, it’s becoming increasingly popular. ‘‘The scene isn’t that rosy in Patna, because of other factors. But we have managed to rope in quite a few quality trainees’’, said Dharmendra Kumar, international arbiter and coach.

Chess coach Dhananjay Ramraje says one main reason is that the game helps develop and sharpen a child’s mental skills: the powers of concentration, anticipation and patience and the ability to plan.

But there is another reason: the increasing financial lure of the game. Dr Sanjay Karvade, a medical practitioner from Pune whose daughter Esha was a gold medal-winner, put a practical spin on things: ‘‘There are parents like me who have money to put their children in more glamorous games like tennis, golf, billiards and cricket. But here international success is guaranteed if you are a quality player.’’

To prove his point, a group of 10 children from the neighbourhood — upmarket Juhu in downtown Mumbai — came to watch chess while their friends were, doubtless, playing cricket. Nine-year-old Milan Shah made it clear early on who his heroes were: ‘‘Where are Sasikiran, Humpy and Harikrishna?’’

Aditi Sharma, the adult who chaperoned them, said: ‘‘I wanted to show them that there can be sporting heroes other than cricketers.’’ Salvaraj, father of IM norm holder Poobesh Anand, was more succint: ‘‘Money follows success.’’

And no better example than the Koneru Humpy family. The 16-year-old has been earning enough money (through prizes and sponsorship) to take care of training and occasionally support her family — particularly her younger sister Chandra Hawsa. The number of chilkdren at the venue made an impression on Russsian GM Maxim Sorokim. ‘‘We Russians learn a lot by following our seniors. It’s good that the Indians are also doing the same.’’