Young Champions Given A Boisterous Welcome

By Arvind Aaron

A fitting reception was given to the Indian Youth Chess Olympiad team who returned home to Chennai with the trophy and gold medals on August 26.
 

"The defeat to Turkey-A by 1.5-2.5 was a shocker, as we enjoyed good positions on all the four boards," said coach R.B. Ramesh. Scoring eight victories including some big wins in the end, India won the World Youth Chess Olympiad for the second time in a row. The high point was India's huge 3.5-0.5 win against the top seeds Russia in the second round.

The five member Indian team along with R.B. Ramesh returned to Chennai from Turkey via Delhi this afternoon to a boisterous welcome. There was a band playing music from the Velammal School, sweets were distributed by the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and the media were present. Prominent among those who came to receive the players were Vel Mohan, Correspondent, Velammal School, J.C.D. Prabhakaran, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, D.V. Sundar, Honorary Secretary of the All India Chess Federation, K. Murali Mohan, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Woman Grand Master Aarthie Ramaswamy and various others and relatives of players and friends.

The Velammal School is taking keen interest and are known for giving huge size receptions after Viswanathan Anand's reception in October last year. Also, three of the five players, B. Adhiban, S.P. Sethuraman, M. Shyam Sundar come from that school in Chennai. The other two players are K. Priyadarshan of Madurai and Prasanna Rao of Mumbai.

"I did not get to play much games and against higher rated players," said reserve player Priyadarshan who remained one of the two undefeated players in the Indian team. Our best player was also the National Sub-Junior champion S.P. Sethuraman who also remained undefeated.  Two Indians got extra gold medals besides the team medals. They are Sethuraman and Shyam Sundar for best performances on the second and third boards. Only Adhiban had played in the previous gold medal winning team of 2007. The entire team, coach Ramesh and Trainer Mr.K.Visweswaran were presented flowers, garlands and sweets and the occasion was festive. 

Ramesh said the success was a collective team effort. His gamble to play on with Adhiban after four successive defeats seemed risky but worked well. "He was playing well and blundered after winning a piece and also had some health problems," said Ramesh.

With momentum behind us, India should look for the third win next year and celebrate this big success until then.
 

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