GM Gopal says the world champ takes time out to keep track of juniors’ performance.
He’s a three-time world chess champion and arguably India’s greatest sportsperson ever, but not many know that Viswanathan Anand actually finds time to even guide, mentor and encourage budding chess professionals of the country.
Grandmaster GN Gopal, the top seed — and now joint second in the points table — at the 47th National Premier chess championship currently underway at the Goregaon Sports Club, is one such beneficiary.
Gopal, a 20-year-old from Kerala, is the only GM from the state and is constantly in touch with the iconic star. “It’s known that Anand is absolutely down to earth. But the way he keeps track of us is worth appreciating,” says Gopal, who has an ELO rating of 2593 and is India No.8.
“Sometime ago, I played the match of my life and managed to beat Sergey Belinksy,” Gopal recalls. Belinsky, meanwhile, is a two-time Russian champion and a close confidante of the legendary Garry Kasparov. “Belinsky is a great player and I was extremely overjoyed after getting the better of him. And guess what, I log on to my mailbox and the first congratulatory mail was Anand’s,” Gopal says proudly.
Anand had written, ‘Dear Gopal, you played a model game. The manner in which you sidelined the rook on G6 was too good.’ Now, this is what dreams are made of. A legend of the game complimenting you just helps you raise the bar.
Gopal has fought the odds many a time already and is prepared for bigger and better battles. His feats — U-12 national champion, sub-junior national champion, first IM from Kerala and first GM from Kerala — all went unnoticed by the state government. All of that refuses to bog him down and he is now focusing on improving his ELO rating so that “he can make it to the big league.”
For the record, IM Sriram Jha is the sole leader with 4.5 points followed by Gopal and IM Vidit Gujrathi leading with 3.5 points followed by six others on three points apiece.
RESULTSGM GN Gopal (2593) bt GM Arun Prasad S (2570), GM Abhijeet Gupta (2578) lost to IM Sriram Jha (2497), IM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2459) bt IM Deep Sengupta (2488), Swapnil S Dhopade (2406) drew with GM Tejas Bakre (2474), GM Sundararajan Kidambi (2516) drew with IM Sethuraman S P (2447), IM Adhiban B (2486) bt Rahul Sangma (2368), IM Himanshu Sharma (2469) lost to GM Neelotpal Das (2440) IM Akshayraj Kore (2394) drew with IM Thejkumar M S (2453), IM Prathamesh Sunil Mokal (2382) lost to GM Laxman RR (2511), GM Thipsay Praveen (2466) drew with Anwesh Upadhyaya (2406)
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