A new star on the chess horizon

By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, July 21: Chess may not be a popular sport in the country. But Andhra Pradesh has distinction of producing world class chess players. Pratyusha, is all set to join the elite club of Koneru Humpy and P Hari Krishna of AP. But it's an unusual success story of this 11-year-old girl hailing from a remote Agency village in the district making to international arena which any normal kid of a rural background dare to dream about. Hailing from Koyyuru, a remote Agency village in the district, Bodda Pratyusha, 11, is a new chess star in the making. She is just back from Thailand after winning three medals at the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) youth chess championship held recently. And it's not easy for her to achieve big in her life. Pratyusha do not have comforts unlike other kids of her age. Only things she has are will and confidence to tackle any situation. She just notes down the theory given by her master and gets onto the game. And when she gets onto it Pratyusha forgets everything except her moves.
For one's surprise this young chess prodigy equipped with confidence travels alone to take part in chess tournaments abroad as her parents or coach cannot afford to accompany her to the international events due to severe financial crunches. She took part in various international tournaments held at Singapore, Greece, Iran, Georgia and Thailand and won laurels for the country. And she managed on her own except the Georgia trip where her coach R Amarnath accompanied her. "I can manage myself. Wherever I go my only aim, ambition and thoughts would be to win the game. Other than that nothing remains in my mind and nothing distracts me. Their absence never affects me," says Pratyusha with a mild but confident tone.
She also carries storybooks, comics and Telugu poetry books with her to read whenever she gets a little time during the international tournaments. "I don't feel any difference whether it is India or Thailand my focus would be only on the brain game. Of course sometimes I miss my family members when I see my fellow players along with their parents encouraging them. But I need to shun down all such thoughts to achieve something big in life" she adds.
Pratyusha's grandfather, VV Ramana who always accompanies her in the tournaments held within the country says that they cannot afford to go with Pratyusha wherever she goes. "We some how manage by pooling some funds and sometimes by taking hand loans and send her to the international events. We just want to encourage her hidden talents. That's it," said Ramana. Pratyusha's father B S Prasad, a secondary grade teacher at Koyyuru government school recollects how it all started. "Koyyuru is remote place with no recreation or entertainment. When she was at the age of 6 Pratyusha first played with one of our neighbour. That's how it all started. She attracted the attention of local people with her talents by playing chess with senior players at Koyyuru" he says. Prasad further says that recognizing her inner talents his neighbours advised him to get her trained by a professional. R Amarnath, a national chess player took the child prodigy under his wings, since then Pratyusha never looked back. She went on a winning spree. She participated at the state level and international level from December 2003. "Most of her age group kids who practice 8 hours a day with all comforts were no match to her. She is brilliant and has that killer instinct, confidence and attitude to win. It's not an easy thing to go all the way alone to alien lands without family and winning tournaments. One should not feel nervous and should be cool always, which she is," says her coach Amaranath. In recognition of her talent Sri Prakash Educational Institutions in Payakaraopeta, is providing her with free education and hostel facility and also sponsors her to various tournaments in the country. Now Pratyusha has her eye set to become the youngest Indian Grand Master at 11. At present Parimarjan Negi, 13 of Delhi hold the record of being the youngest Indian Grand Master.