Chess suffers from lack of exposure: Harika
Back home after her gold winning performance, the WGM looks ahead
Shreya Chakravertty
New Delhi, October 31: Indian chess youngsters won 10 medals — five of them gold — at the World Youth Chess Championships in Batumi, Georgia. However, Dronavalli Harika, a gold winner, feels the feats were consigned to too small a corner by the media.
Harika, who won gold in the under-18 category, was in the Capital today, and she has her own opinion on the sport’s publicity. “It does bother me when I win something big and no one seems to be interested, but I feel that there are other sports which are worse off in terms of attention,” says the 16-year-old from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
“Now, a lot more people are playing chess, and doing well at it too; the better we perform, the more news it’ll make. Perhaps, we will attract more people to the sport professionally,” she adds with a grin.
It’s been a long journey for the teenager since she took to the game at the age of eight. It was her father, a keen chess player, who introduced her to the world of the 64 black-and-white squares, and it doesn’t seem likely that her normal 12 hours of practice a day will burn her out. “Hard work, concentration, a keen interest in the game — all this is necessary to be successful. One can’t do without parental support or encouragement either,” she says. Harika is fortunate to be blessed with all these.
But success is a double-edged sword, and pressure comes with it in a package. “I feel the pressure because I’m travelling and playing on my father’s money. He is the one who is supporting me, and I want to live up to his expectations. I don’t have any sponsors at the moment, and the financial difficulties are more now than when I first started playing. International exposure is very important, and it costs money to play abroad,” says Harika, who, in the course of her travels, plays mostly in Europe, but has had some stints in the US as well.
The full article can be read here.
Chess doesnt have a lack of exposure. Most people world wide know how to play chess. The sad part is that some do not realize that many people do not want to play chess and this should be acceptable. I’ve seen many parents who want their child to play chess but the child is uninterested. These children are forced to attend master lectures and cannot focus on the game being demonstrated for more than a minute at a time. Its sad that some abuse their children this way.
She’s rated 2350 at the age of 18. She wants more attention? Not going to be world champion, or even a grandmaster. Maybe it’s time to pack up the board and hit the (text)books.
She is under 16, actually. She registered in the U-16 section, but an error on the organisers’ part forced her to play in the under 18 Section, which she went on to win ! She is one of the youngest Woman grandmasters in the history of chess. If you have similar achievements in chess, please let us know.
It’s hard to believe those first two pessimistic comments..
remember what Thumper mother said to Thumper in the Bamby movie
“If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all”
An error on the part of the Indian team official who signed the confirmation before round 1 that she was playing under-18.
Not the organisers fault.
She actually played in the correct category. Most of the kids from Andhra Pradesh cheat about their age much to the discomfort of other Indians.