Teen set to conquer 64 squares

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Sai Krishna lost out on an opportunity to compete in the ongoing Chess Olympiad for the blind and visually impaired in the city as he finished 12th at the National 'A' chess championship for the visually impaired last year with the top 10 representing India at the Olympiad

However, the 16-year-old Chennai boy, who is now aiming for the next world junior chess championship, is determined not to miss the chance to interact with the masters of the 64 squares.
“I am currently playing in a school tournament. Once it is over, I will visit the Olympiad and try to get ideas from the top players of the world,” said Krishna.

The Class 11 student of the Saint Louis Institute for the Deaf and Blind might have failed to make the grade at the nationals but did well in academics by scoring 477 marks out of the total 500 in Class 10 to stand second in his school.

“Chess and studies are both important to him. We want him to have a good education so that he can be independent,” said his ex-serviceman father K.S. Thiagarajan.
Krishna, who has been affected by retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease from the age of nine, learnt chess from his mother Radhika, who wanted to keep him indoors. The young boy picked up the moves quickly and was put under the tutelage of a visually impaired expert, K. Muthuraman. He started to enter competitions and now holds an international elo rating of 1715.

The young boy, who is coached by GM R.B. Ramesh and his wife WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy and has a first-place finish in the national junior event and 12th place at the world junior championship, hopes to become a grandmaster.

“I try to participate in all rated tournaments in the city," said Krishna, who is eager to meet world champion Viswanathan Anand. “When I achieve success at the international level, I will surely get an opportunity to meet Anand,” said Krishna, who like Anand adores the attacking style of GM Michael Tal.
Krishna has played in two world junior championships so far.

“Last year, my father was struggling to mobilise funds. At that time, chief minister J. Jayalalithaa sanctioned Rs1.5 lakh for my trip,” said Krishna, who scored four points out of the total seven in that event.