R. Raja Rithvik inched one step closer to realising his dream of becoming an International Master (IM) when he achieved his second IM norm in the just-concluded Mumbai Mayors Cup chess championship.
The 10th standard student of Orchids International School (Jubilee Hills) scored 6.5 points in 10 rounds, winning four, drawing five and losing only one in a championship which featured seven Grandmasters. Significantly, the city’s young talent outwitted one of them — Ukraine’s Neverov Valeriy — and his only loss was against an Indian Grandmaster, Diptyan Ghosh.
Rithvik, 14, also improved his ELO rating, moving to 2,340 from 2,296 picking 46 points. “It was an immensely satisfying event for me as it featured 200 players and some of the strongest ones too,” he says with a big smile.
In April this year, Rithvik clinched his first IM norm in the Bangkok Open championship with 6.5 points from nine rounds and now needs only more norm to become the International Master. “I am confident of becoming one very soon. I know what are the challenges ahead and I will prepare accordingly. The Mumbai Cup was a huge experience, given the quality of players I faced,” says Rithvik.
His progress was not surprising given the fact that he won five gold in the recently-concluded Asian Youth championship in the under-14 category — winning two in individual events of classical and blitz formats, three gold in team events of all three formats including Rapid.
“My next big goal is to win a medal in the Commonwealth Championship this month-end and then prepare for the World Youth championship in Greece this October,” he says.
He credits his coach ‘Raju sir’ (N.V.S. Rama Raju, who also trained GM Dronavalli Harika among other big names). “There is a constant endeavour on my part to keep improving and I am confident of being a much better player with improved variety in openings, middle and end-games,” says Rithvik.
Sports Authority of Telangana State chairman A. Venkateshwar Reddy felicitated the young chess talent on Tuesday.
