The Hindu : Harikrishna confident of keeping title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 19, 2003

Sport

Sport - Chess

Harikrishna confident of keeping title

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

MUMBAI APRIL 18. "Ah, there's a nice view from your room,'' said Pendyala Harikrishna, looking at the Juhu Beach from the third floor of the Hotel Tulip Star on a glorious summer afternoon. There was a smile on his face when he said that. That smile became broader when he started to speak about the Commonwealth chess championship, which will be inaugurated here on Saturday.

"I enjoyed playing both my Commonwealth tournaments,'' he told The Hindu on Friday.

He will cherish forever his memories of those two tournaments. In 2000, at Sangli (Maharashtra), he completed his final norm to become India's youngest International Master (IM). The 2001 edition in London proved to be even more memorable. Not just because he won the tournament in style. It was during the course of the championship that he came to learn that he had become India's youngest Grandmaster, beating Viswanathan Anand's record.

He had gone to London hoping to complete, what he believed was, his final GM norm. He wasn't aware that the GM title was his after making the nine-game norm from the Asian championship in Kolkata, which preceded the Commonwealth.

In London he was told by the tournament director Stewart Rueben that since he had made a norm at the Olympiad, he had completed all the requirements for the GM title.

"I was relieved and delighted to hear that,'' recalled the 16-year-old. "I was feeling very disappointed after failing to get an 11-game norm in Kolkata by just half-a-point. So the Commonwealth championship will always remain something special for me.''

He had done something special indeed in London. Not only did he win the Commonwealth men's title, he had also won the Ron Banwell MSO Masters international open tournament, as well as coming first in the Commonwealth boys' under-20 and under-16 sections (all these titles are decided by playing one tournament; there's going to be the same format here too).

Harikrishna reckoned the field is much stronger here than it was in London. ``There are about 20 GMs here, and any one of them could win the tournament,'' said the defending champion. "I am a better player than I was two years ago, so I feel I have a good chance to retain the title.''

He has come to Mumbai straight after helping India win the silver at the Asian team championship in Jodhpur.

When he won the last Commonwealth title, he was in the middle of a dream run. It was a period when the hugely promising little kid transformed into a champion performer at the senior level. He had become the youngest Indian to qualify for the World championship, he had won the Hastings tournament in England (along with Krishnan Sasikiran) and had come very close to winning the National `A' title (before settling for the runner-up spot). He was playing so consistently that he hardly lost a game when he was playing white.

But he has had a few setbacks since. Notably at the World Cup in his hometown of Hyderabad and at the Olympiad in Slovenia, both late last year.

``I really played badly in the World Cup and lost three games.'' There was a silver lining though in his sensational victory against Russia's Alexander Morozevich, one of strongest players in the world. "But that win came in my last game. It was too late.''

Harikrishna is also disappointed at India's poor show at the Olympiad. The country had finished a highly commendable eighth at the previous Olympiad in Istanbul in 2000. "Sasikiran, Abhijit (Kunte) and myself all had played very well there, but in Slovenia none of us could repeat that form. Only (Surya Shekhar) Ganguly had a good time.''

Harikrishna, who is sponsored by Wipro, expects the Indians to do well over the next few days here. "I feel this tournament would also be a very good opportunity for many of our players to get their IM and GM norms.''

He also made a prediction, quite confidently. "The Commonwealth champion will be an Indian.''

He made that statement because some of the top players here won't be eligible for the Commonwealth title because they don't come from Commonwealth nations; they would be playing for the international open title. "I too rather would like to win the open, rather than just the Commonwealth,'' he added cheerfully.

Simultaneous display

by Humpy

Meanwhile, Koneru Humpy has a little contest, contests rather, ahead of her before the championship. Humpy will play 25 youngsters simultaneously before the inaugural ceremony.

Humpy said she was looking forward to the simultaneous display. "I enjoy such games,'' she said. "This would be my third such show. The last one was a couple of years ago when I played and won all my 10 games against kids at the Chalapathy Residential School in Guntur.''

About the Commonwealth championship, which gets underway on Sunday, she said she expected strong competition both from the men and women.

"This would be one of my strongest tournaments till date,'' said the 15-year-old. She said she might experiment with some new openings here.

"I may not have done as well as I wanted to with the Sicilian Defence at Jodhpur, but I'm determined to try out new things,'' she said.

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