Meet Aravindh, the 18-year-old grandmaster who brought back bronze from junior chess Worlds

The World Junior Chess Championship attracted a lot of attention from fans of the game in India. The attention was on 12-year-old prodigy R Praggnanandha, who, if he had won the coveted tournament, would have become the youngest ever Grandmaster in history. And for a while, he looked on track. His every match was closely studied, his chances keenly followed. As it turned out, he had a late slip in the tournament and ended up finishing (a very creditable) fourth.

All the while as this was unfolding, another Indian teenager – already a grandmaster – was mounting a fine challenge on his own. He lost the very first round, but 18-year-old Aravindh Chithambaram staged a late surge to finish joint top on points. Yes, only a tie-breaker separated him and the gold as he clinched the bronze medal for India in Travisio, Italy.

And a day after returning from Italy, the soft-spoken, shy teenager was back at his academy – Chess Gurukul – in Chennai, preparing for tournaments ahead.

“It really was a great tournament for me,” Aravindh tells The Field. “Not just the result, which is probably the best of my career so far given how strong the field was, but also the good time I had in Italy with my friends. There were two rest days in the tournament and we had a lot of fun during that time. We played so much cricket,” he adds, breaking into a sheepish grin.

Indeed, cricket, and not chess, is the sport he enjoys the most, he confesses right off the bat.

“To be perfectly honest, I like cricket more than chess. (laughs) But it’s OK, maybe chess suits my physique better,” says the lanky, five-foot something. “Cricket is still my first love, but even if I leave chess, chess won’t leave me. I am good at it, and I enjoy playing it.”

The youngster from Madurai, likes to joke around with his mentor, and co-founder of Chess Gurukul, RB Ramesh. He wears a relaxed look, sporting a Leicester City football jersey but doesn’t really follow football. Other than playing chess and the occasional cricket, he watches Tamil movies, listens to songs, spends his time on the internet studying chess, and only when he is “really bored”, he reads his college books.

The life of a regular teenager, except his prodigious talent for the game of kings.

Move to Chennai

How did Aravindh’s tryst with chess begin?

“I think I was around eight when my grandfather taught me to play chess,” Aravindh recalls. “He used to play in his days as well, but with some different rules so he taught me. Even though the rules were wrong, you could say he was my first coach.”

His mother Deivanai VR adds the details. “He used to bug my father to play cricket, and him being old, he decided to teach him to play chess instead. That’s how his journey started,” she laughs.

While he started making waves at the state and national levels, Aravindh and his mother quickly realised he had to move to Chennai to improve his game. He had lost his father when he was eight to a heart attack. Initially reluctant to make the move because of her work as an insurance agent, Deivanai knew she had a diamond in the rough, and to shape him the right way, a move to the capital was a necessity. His mother then started going to Madurai every month to take care of her work while Aravindh worked his way up the ratings ladder in Chennai.

“In 2011, during the world youth championships in Brazil, I met his mother and she asked if I could take him under my coaching,” says Ramesh. “He was already a reputed player and along with Pragga, he’s the most talented kid I have trained.”

And under Ramesh’s tutelage at Chess Gurukul, he earned his GM status in 2015 as a 16-year-old.

Life at Gurukul

Aravindh is at home in the academy run by Ramesh – a Grandmaster-turned-trainer. He jokes around with the younger kids, who look up to ‘Aravindh anna’ (brother) as their mentor. When he talks to his mentor Ramesh, the respect is evident but they don’t shy away from pulling each other’s legs. Ramesh, clearly, is much more than a coach for him – a friend and a father figure.

“I have had other personal coaches before moving to Chennai but the specialty with Ramesh sir is how friendly he is with all of us. I share all my problems with him, and he never stops motivating me. He trains us in groups at the academy and that has given me the chance to play frequently against some of the best players in the country – Sethuraman anna, Pragga, and sir himself. That’s how my confidence improves. And Pragga especially. Age-wise he is a kid, but for us he’s sort of a legend. To play against him is a lot of fun, I learn so much,” he says.

At Gurukul, it’s not just about learning chess. Every time there is a break, it’s fun and games. Hide and seek one day, cricket some other and lately, table tennis. The most recent addition to their routine is yoga.

“Ramesh sir introduced me to yoga and said I *must* take it seriously. I managed to get to 2500 and over (ELO) on a flow but to go further, I need my nerves to hold. Under pressure, the best players have so much calmness about them, but sometimes I let that get to me. Under time pressure sometimes, my hands start shaking. So if I have to become a better player, I need to work on my nerves. And I am taking it very seriously,” he explains.

Already a Grandmaster and Asian Junior Champion, Aravindh says his short term goal is to break the 2700 mark in ELO ratings. Long term? “I’ll take things as they come,” he says.

Down to earth

Success though, hasn’t got to the head of Aravindh. He is camera-shy, he’s barely audible in a room filled with younger kids, and speaks with evident humility – a trait Ramesh wants all his wards to acquire.

Who does he idolise? “[Vishwanathan] Anand sir, of course,” he says. “And [Magnus] Carlsen. I have played in the same tournaments as Anand sir and I learn a lot just by watching him play, but I have never played against him. I did play once against Carlsen though at Qatar Masters a couple of years back.”

And he recalls that match with great pride in his voice.

“I lost badly of course, but that was such a great day for me. I wasted a lot of time that day with my opening moves. I recovered a little bit but it was not enough at the end,” he says. “After the match, Carlsen told me about a few moves but I did not understand him properly. But for the first and maybe only time in my life, I did not feel bad about losing a game of chess. I was just so happy to play against my idol. I do want to defeat him one day, but that was the only time I was happy after a loss.”

While his humility is instantly endearing, one wonders if self-confidence is an issue for the youngster. Not even close, according to Ramesh.

“He’s a very humble kid. And the greatest champion of this game in our country is an example. The bottom-line is that, the success has not got into his head,” says Ramesh. “Aravindh’s talent is his standout quality. He used to not work too hard in his initial days but that has changed now. This is a crucial period for him. This is the age some players tend to stagnate, and there are too many distractions. That hurdle he has to cross. He shouldn’t relax now, and must realise that the journey has just begun. He is on the right track.”

Aravindh, a first-year commerce student at SRM University, has no doubts where his future lies.

“Kandippa, doubt eh illa. Chess daan en career. (Without a doubt, chess is my career). I am not even thinking about anything apart from chess. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know anything but chess!”