The next Anand?

Another feather in his cap
Playing a strong middle game is Girish Koushik’s strength and he admits that he is still learning, writes Kalyan Ashok.

He is just 11 years old and is already making waves in international chess in his age group. The Mysore lad, Girish Koushik, is indeed a prodigy, who fashions himself in the mould of his idol Vishwanathan Anand.

The youngster, a winner of the World under-10 championship in 2006, silver medallist in the Asian Youth under-10 championship in 2007 and Commonwealth under-10 championship in 2007, has added another feather to his cap by winning the Asian Youth under-10 title at Teheran recently.

Koushik simply maintained that momentum in the National under-12 Championship held at Ahmedbad in the first week of September, where he once again emerged a worthy champion. Son of the Mysore University player, Arun Koushik, Girish has the game to beat the best at his level in the world. The under-10 triumph in the Asian Youth championship in Teheran came the hard way.

“Actually I dropped a point in the third game, but came back strongly to finish on top with 7.5 points from nine rounds. I drew the last game to keep my lead,” said Girish. He has an ELO rating of 2138 and has a FIDE Master norm. But his eyes are now set on achieving the International Master grade. The big goal, of course, is to become a Grandmaster at the senior level.

Playing a strong middle game is his strength and he admits that he is still learning. “Chess is like an ocean,” said the youngster like a wise, old man. He began playing when he was 4-1/2, thanks to his father Arun, who spent most of his spare time teaching his son the intricacies of the game. “Girish is a quick learner and my initial task became easy,” said Arun. Girish’s path in chess was not always strewn with flowers. It had thorns as well as Arun had to run from pillar to post to find financial aid to further his son’s career. “Last year, I almost gave up and thought of calling it quits as we had no support to help him out.

“But the State Government came to our rescue and offered us aid to cover his training and travel needs for domestic tournaments,” said Arun.

But that alone is not going to suffice in the long run. Arun wants the help of Russian professionals to train his lad. “In Russia, you have professional coaches who come at a price and they are willing to come down and train him if their demands are met. As I see it, Girish needs three years of solid training from such masters, if you expect him to be a World champion at the senior level. It would cost us anywhere from Rs. 15 to 20 lakhs,” said Arun.

He hopes that MNCs and IT firms and major sports foundations would come to his rescue and help Girish realise his dreams.

“I am not saying this because he is my son, but he has immense potential and could well be another Anand of the future if he is groomed in a professional manner with adequate financial support,” said Arun.

Till then, Girish has to cope with learning from Grandmasters’ games downloaded from the Net, besides training with his father, who has now quit his job to devote all his time for his son’s career.

Source: http://www.sportstaronnet.com/