At 27, her achievements are beyond her age. International Master, Woman Grandmaster, Arjuna Award recipient, she won her first international title when she was just eight, and recently brought home a Bronze Medal on Board 3 in the Istanbul Chess Olympiad 2012, Turkey. Tania Sachdev still has one regret — her country doesn’t support chess like it promotes other sports.
“Though things are much better now, 10 years ago when I started participating in chess competitions there was hardly anything in Delhi to look forward to. Every now and then I would fly down South to participate in chess competitions. But now, even Delhi has many school and college level chess competitions,” says Tania on her Delhi visit for the chess event Battle For The Queen.
Organised by Red Bull, the event is a hunt for India’s most talented and ingenious chess player. Players selected from Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai will face off in the national finals at the scenic backdrop of Mehtab Bag, Agra.
“I am very excited to see such an event being organised for chess players instead of rather popular games like cricket. I believe more such events, even by the government, should be organised to encourage youngsters to take up chess professionally. I believe there is still a lot more that can be done to promote the game among kids,” says Tania, who might have won many accolades for the game but her biggest compliments come from kids who tell her that she has inspired them to take up chess at a profession level.
While Tania continues to inspire youngsters, there is something else she enjoys a lot — her share of limelight. “I have walked the ramp for fashion designers like Ashima-Leena and I really enjoyed doing it. It’s a lot of fun. I have also been part of many social and sports-related campaigns,” she smiles.
Tania is also a movie buff. And the favourite genre of the pretty chess player is horror. She recently watched The Conjuring. “It is a very nice movie, only I couldn’t sleep for a few nights after watching it,” grins Tania who missed Bhaag Milkha Bhaag since she was travelling and plans to watch it as soon as possible.
She is also very pleased with biopics being made on sports personalities. “These films give a boost to sports. I am looking forward to Mary Kom’s biopic. I would also love to watch a film based on World Chess Champion Anand Vishwanathan,” says Tania, who loves reading and listening to music in her free time.
Though free time is a luxury for Tania, she tries to visit Delhi as often as she can. However, the Asian Chess Champion insists that she misses Delhi during her school days when it used to be much quieter. “The city has changed a lot since then. But one thing that I like about the change is the food. All kinds of cuisines are now available in the city and I like to try out different places,” she says.
Being a famous sport personality, the news of sports coming under the dark clouds of fixing bothers her. Recently, wrestler Sushil Kumar also confessed that he was offered cash to throw the championship bout at the 2010 world meet. When asked if Tania also ever found herself in a similar situation she replies, “Chess is pretty much a clean game when it comes to being hounded by scourges of match-fixing. Maybe it’s because chess doesn’t have that kind of money involved. I am happy I have never faced any such situation.”
After giving almost 20 years to the game, Tania says she can’t think of a life without chess. In the end Tania adds she would love to see more young girls taking up the game. Though she agrees there is a long way to go, Tania insists that the change has already begun.