Error in 64 Squares
This was my first loss in Nationals and I could not digest it for the very fact that I knew the best move for that position but my hands touched the incorrect pieces on the board. Read…
By Sanju Sinha
The day was really bright and sunny and the sun was blazing all over Chennai, I was getting restless, for Bangalore weather has spoilt me for past 4 ½ years with its cool and pleasant weather. The venue for the 10th National City Championship event was Nehru stadium in T.Nagar, this was my first visit to Chennai and hardly hours in the city I wanted to go back! The Bangalore Chess team was all happy, gay and cheer full it consisted of four players who got top four positions in Bangalore District championship. The three others were Vinay, Karthik and James while Vinay was a Manager in my previous company (ORACLE) other two were small kids, Karthik is a bright and matured 10 year old boy while James is an 8 year old naughty boy, he is little shy at first sight but once he becomes friendly he is a menace, the same is true for him in the Chess Board for he is not an ordinary boy of his age, he can rip apart through the defence of his opponents forte with ease who are way senior and experienced than him, the only thing this boy lacked was consistency and concentration on the board, I have seen both these boy mercilessly attacking their opponents and forced them to resign. Vinay and I adored them very much.
The first day of the National city championship began on a happy note with all four winning our respective games and hence gaining four points out of possible four, In chess you get a point for a win, ½ for a draw and Zero for a loss, We all four used to prepare our games in the night and I used to help them out with new variation and attacking methods. Second round again was good for all four as we all won our respective games and returned back on a happy note, third round was bit hazy as James lost his calm and this cost him a point, on the other board our matured boy drew his game, me and Vinay managed to win our games, in the fourth round Karthik made a small mistake and lost his game so on the fourth day we only managed three points, As for those who does not know the competitive world of Chess for them I want to add this little bit of information that, as the game progresses and you tend to win each and every game the opponent seems to be better than the previous one, this is just because of the very simple fact that your opponent is also on the same page as you are, and he is beating his opponents on the other side of the tournament hall. I was paired against a very good player of Chennai named Shrikanth in my fifth round and we both had five points out of five rounds, this gentleman was known for his attacking skill, the game went on for 35 moves very calmly, suddenly ideas started pouring in my mind to complicate the issue and I wanted to win the game by force, in the thick of the things; I made a move that was not intended to be, though that move was there in my mind for quite sometimes, the entire chemistry of the game was changed by that Night move of mine. I found myself in a disastrous situation and slowly by position deteriorated, my opponent started to squeeze me like a python and finally I resigned on 46th move.
This was my first loss in Nationals and I could not digest it for the very fact that I knew the best move for that position but my hands touched the incorrect pieces on the board, in Chess if the mind and the body does not correlate this is a dangerous situation, that is what exactly happened to me in a spurt of moment. How many times in life we take decisions thinking that it is the best for that moment and it turns out to be otherwise, from my Guwahati day’s as a young boy, I have never come to terms with defeat easily in any form, and its been almost 12 years of my competitive chess ?! Coming to this national event and losing was a disgusting thought, but just as I was ever, I prepared for a fight back in my sixth round to crush my opponent, so here in my sixth round I was paired with one of the finest player of Andhra Pradesh his name was Abdul Gani. The game started with a violent note, I started throwing pieces on my opponents king from the very first move, I was on my very best on that day, in a very short span of time I was able to blast open my opponents defence and forced him to resign on 26th move, this was an amazing victory for me in nationals as I sacrificed my pieces with accuracy and swiftly one after the other, if on that moment if I would have missed any chances the result would have been different. Attacking requires perfect timing as well as nerve. Knowing the right time to attack is as much an art as science, and even for the very best it’s often guesswork. The window of opportunity is usually very small, as with most dynamic factors, no neon signs appear to say that there is a big opportunity right round the corner. I won the seventh and eight rounds and managed to bag only 7th position in Nationals. News papers and reporters gathered around the top ten contenders of prize clicking pictures for the sport section and taking interviews.
The prizes were distributed my Honourable chief minister Mr. M.Karunadhi as for Vinay Karthik and James they stood 25th, 20th and 22nd
Though I could not break into top three in Nationals, I was given a warm welcome in my office for my achievement in Nationals by our company VP and my immediate manager, this was sweet as I was tired after a long fought battle in Chennai considering the hot weather and the irritating rickshaw.
As for those of you who want to know about my colleagues in national games, James has toped in Karnataka under 10 Chess championship 2008, he is a child prodigy, Karthik recently won the under fourteen Mangalore Chess Championship and is doing good with his academics, Vinay has joined a software company named VMware as a Global manager for Asia.
Please subscribe to the BLOG.
Taming the Lion
By Sanju Sinha
It was summer of 1998; I was on a vacation to my mama’s place (Patharkandi)As college was over and I had just completed my B.Com 2nd year exam, I wanted to visit my cousins and wanted to have some fun with my old village folks and friends.
One fine morning a gentleman came and asked my mama to participate in BARAK VALLEY Open Chess Championship as my mama ( Ram Das Sinha ) was considered to be a chess enthusiast and a good player in Patharkandi, Mama persuaded me to join the championship which was going to be held in Karimganj the very next week. I readily agreed as I had plenty of time; and I have never faced an opponent from Cachar though I have been a state player for last three years in Guwahati.
Ram mama arranged a car for all four of us for four days of tournament; that included Shyam mama and Gauranga who is a childhood friend and a budding chess player. The date was 1st June (Monday) and the venue was a Bengali Primary School in Karimganj, we reached there at 10 a.m; almost 150 chess enthusiasts had participated in the event almost all senior and experienced players from Silchar and Karimganj has joined the event as it is one of the prestigious event which is being held every year religiously. One striking fact of this event was, most of the players were Meitei and were dreaded opponents, everybody was scared of them as almost all of them were really good and sharp, and were well prepared with their Tournament repertoire. We were just four Bishnupriya souls unknown to the crowd.
The tournament began immediately after the speech delivered by the commissioner of police, my opponent was Mr. T Chaoba Singha from Silchar I was playing on the top board its not because I was a champion to the event previous year but my opponent was holding the crown of this event for last five years, and he was one of the best player in Barak Valley.
The game began with a hand shake and exchange of smile, I had the White pieces and had a small advantage for my first move, as the game progressed I felt that I was not under any pressure and it was going pretty smoothly, Mr Chaoba was a man with a lean and thin frame calm and composed and a receding hair line, he had this small eyes praying to paunch on me to punish me for any mistake on the board, he was very simple and had lot of admirers across the room who often come to our board to see how the game was progressing, I was bit uneasy about people glaring at me, may be as I was the youngest in the event and was a new face, As I had played with top players from Guwahati and was runner up for the Guwahati district championship the same year in March I did not fear anyone across the room nor Mr Chaoba’s calm and composed demeanour made me feel that he could beat me. I was excited and was calculating my moves very fast and was running across the room watching other games, on my 23rd move I made a blunder and lost a BISHOP( Oonth , that’s what they call in Hindi ) for two pawns ( Sainik ) which was a huge advantage for my witty opponent, suddenly I felt the heat in my seat and my eyes could not believe what I have done, my ears were red and I was tensed, my mama’s and my friend saw my situation and gave me a wry look as if nothing can be done at this very moment, suddenly they started believing in the abilities of my opponent, the entire Hall was praising the man who has held this championship crown for last five years, I felt numbness in my hand.
I took a small break from the board went out and looked at the coconut trees across the road tried to compose myself, took a deep breath and came back to the board.
I started playing as though nothing has happened, the game progressed slowly and steadily but I never gave up on my chances and slowly and steadily I built my fort, slowly progressed with the king up the board with three pawns to be promote at least one of them as a queen. One would never know what happens to a player when one looses a piece and he had to face his opponent who is witty and smart and has been top of his performance for so many years, the game progressed and finally one of my Pawns ( Sainiks ) reached the eighth rank to be promoted as queen, suddenly there were buzz round the tournament hall, all of a sudden my table was surrounded by players discussing possibilities of my win, some discussing about how I reached this position and some looking at me disdainfully. The game ended with my fierce and opponent shaking my hand and praising my ability to raise my game to the next level. It was a well deserved win for me against a formidable opponent, after that I never looked back and won all the games in a row and I was declared Champion ahead of the last round, my score was 7/7 ( Seven out of seven ). The Champions trophy was given to me by Hon’ble Minister Satosh Mohan Dev of Silchar which included cash Prize of 10,000 Rupees.
Lot of records were rewritten on this victory of mine, First time in the history of Barak Valley Championship a Bishnupriya boy has emerged as a champion, and also I was the youngest champion in the long list of champions of the tournament, with no losses and draws but straight wins.
Mr.Chaoba met me after the tournament and he was delighted to know that I was a runner up in Guwahati district champion the same year and had come 13 in all Assam chess championship in the year 1997.
To be concluded with another encounter of mine with Assam State champion 1997 and my foray to Nationals 2007.
Please subscribe to the BLOG.
When I joined Barnes School
By Sanju Sinha
I joined Barnes School (Boarding) when I was 7 years old, I was just out of Army public School in Bagdogra ( Siliguri);for all those who have not heard about it ( Barnes ) is one of the finest and the best School in India along with Doon School. One can see the School in the Movie IMTIHAN where Vinod Khanna has acted as a teacher.
The school is located exclusively in a hill in the lovely hill station named Devlali(Nasik),with mountain ranges to the west where Indian army regularly practices artillery and one can hear the noise of tanks firing the balloons attached to the aircraft where we were not allowed to go by any chance; and to the east are the breathe taking view of the mountain ranges where Lord Rama met Jatayu and fetched Holy water, to the north was grape yard where senior boys used to sneak in to have a couple of grapes though it was heavily guarded by Doberman dogs but the risk was worth it; and to the south one can see the Air force base which was significant for this huge water tank, in between lay miles and miles of open grass land.
I still remember the day I had to meet the Principal Mr.Huges for a personal interview before I could be rolled to class II, the interview got over in an hour with general questions after which he took my uncle and me around the school, it took us good 2 hour to complete the tour of the school, Mr.Huges also introduced me to my warden Mrs Mecey, an old Anglo Indian lady, with a lovely smile in her face who was like a mother to all of us, I was then taken to my class and was introduced to my class teacher Mrs. Kappor and my class mates.
The most fascinating aspect of the school was a cock on top of the main building which was at the centre of all the buildings in the school, which I was fascinated to and used to gaze it whenever I had chance to do so, later my friend told me that the cock used to turn to the direction of the wind, it was new to me !! Though I have seen all the buildings I kept gazing at them as the British architecture and the huge palace like open spaces and paintings on the walls on each building were amazing.
The luggage were kept in the dormitory after the school tour, My uncle took me to my class and said bye for he was leaving me for a year in my boarding, I was scared and nervous, I could see boys and girls speaking English fluently; I could barely respond to them, this was a new environment, new place, new faces and the most important fact was; there I was alone and I knew that my parents are not going to see me for a good one year.
Despite having said and done there were brighter side to all these, as I got enrolled myself to Karate classes which were compulsory for students from class v onwards which I carried on with Kung-fu in Guwahati till my 12th Standard, I also learned Sanskrit and Marathi language which was a new experience though I know Spanish and French now, we had regular horse riding classes on Friday and swimming classes on Saturday which again was mandatory, skating, jogging and cross country was a must.
I still remember the day when Sarah walked in and sat beside me she was a Canadian and had joined standard III in my class, we became good friends and maintained that for 8 long years and I knew most of the boys were jealous of me as she was one of the prettiest girl in our school we shared stories, homeworks, food, icecream, pictures and gifts all in all she was my best friend, finally the day came when we had to part, we both had passed our 9th grade, her parents were suppose to shift to US so they took her back and my parents took me as my Parents settled in Guwahati by then, after which I never heard from her anymore, but the memories of my boarding life is still fresh in my mind as though I was there few days back…now I work in Bangalore and want to revisit my School..School days in BARNES have been the best years of my life.
