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Indian title holders are now getting younger. The talented Delhi boy Parimarjan Negi hit two milestones in one event. In the first, he made his final norm and became an International Master. In the second, he earned himself a maiden Grandmaster norm. The latest edition of the Hastings Tournament that was held in England from December to January 6 will be remembered in India for long.
Parimarjan Negi, 12, became an International Master on December 31, 2005 when he beat Grandmaster Sergey Erenburg of Israel. India has 45 International Masters and counting. Negi made several IM norms starting at Bad Weisse Tournament in Germany in 2003. He followed that up with norms in the Dubai Open 2005, Sort Open 2005 in Spain and his fourth norm in the Essent Tournament in Holland in 2005. The year 2006 could see him get or move closer to the Grandmaster Title.
In the Hastings Tournament of 2005-2006, Negi's talent earned him rich dividends when he beat three grandmasters Lalic, Hebden and Erenburg. He lost to the ultimate champion E.Neverov and Belov and finished on 6/10. It was the 82nd edition of the Hastings Tournament and it is the longest running chess tournament in the world.
His biggest supporters are his parents. His father J.B.Singh is a flight navigator at the Delhi airport. His sponsorship comes from Tata and Air India. He is a seventh standard student in the Amity International School, Saket. His trainers are GM Evgeny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan and IM Vishal Sareen of Delhi.
The chess wave of Chennai and Andhra after big success of chess players here now moves to Delhi. The Delhi Chess Association has played a big role in promoting Negi and they are celebrating for the third time within a year after success of Tania Sachdev and Sahaj Grover all within the last seven months.
"To gain a GM norm within the first five years of playing chess is a great achievement," said Kunte. "Negi has proved that getting opportunities alone is not enough," notes R.B.Ramesh. And former world youth champion Tejas Bakre said, "his opening repertoire is good and his endgame is strong."
Thipsay advices Negi to set up short term goals. Dibyendu Barua says, "now starts the tough part". Expectations from the media will be high every time Negi plays an event. "It will be unrealistic to expect him to make a norm in every tournament."
Negi won his first National title when he won the Under-9 Nationals in 2002. Later, in 2003 he won the National U-11 title and in 2004 he won became the youngest player to win the National Sub-Junior at Kozhikode. Since then he has been playing in Open events and making his IM norms.
In the Biel Chess Festival of 2004 he won a special Sub-Junior award. Also he became the youngest (11 years, 5 months) Indian to defeat a grandmaster when he beat Ivan Nemet of Switzerland. That erased a decade long record (11 years, 11 months) held by Surya Sekhar Ganguly who beat GM Gregory Serper at Kolkata in the Goodricke Open.
Negi, born February 9, 1993 has a long way to go in his career. India will expect a lot from him in the years ahead in the age group and world championships of the future. Also for such a talented player, winning only three nationals also speaks well of the fierce domestic competition that Negi is receiving from his peers across the country.
When you have a coach like Vladimirov (who has been a trainer of Kasparov) and Hindi speaking Vishal Sareen to talk his preparation and weaknesses, Negi can only improve his game. One can expect a big rise in his play along with his age. He has to look up where Anand is and keep working without looking back.
Here are two press releases from the Delhi Chess Association:
1. Negi's Achievement
2. Negi's Bio-Data
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