1/30/2014 – A couple of weeks ago the Indian GM broke the national record in a sumultaneous
exhibition. Especially noteworthy was that of the 155 opponents at least
30 were proper players with international ratings. Our reporter Sagar Shah
described the event in the first
part of his report, interviewed the grandmaster for the second.
He reveals at least one secret of his preparation: Surya Namaskara.
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Abhijit Kunte breaks the Indian Simul Record (2)
Report by Sagar Shah
The Indian record for playing the most number of opponents in a simultaneous
exhibition was set by the very dynamic GM Abhijit Kunte when he played 155
opponents on 5th January 2014, thereby breaking the previously set record
of playing 150 players by Dhyani Dave.
Kunte was at his sheer best in the record simul as he scored a whooping
149 points (145 wins, 8 draws and 2 losses) out of 155. That amounts to
a meritorious score of almost 96%! Abhijit, who had the white pieces in
all the games, played for eight and a half hours and as per the calculations
he nearly walked twelve kms in completing this simultaneous event! The event
started round around 3 p.m. and ended at 11:30 in the night!
I think people are always inquisitive to know the thought process of a
person who has done something special. So I decided to ask the man of the
moment, GM Abhijit Kunte, a few questions so that we can understand better
how such great feats are achieved.
Sagar Shah: How was the overall
experience of the record breaking simul?
Abhijit Kunte: The experience was tiring. There were around
30 rated players, and the rest were also resonably players. Actually there
were no non chess players. That means everyone was playing at least some
decent chess. Around 45-50 games were tough and about 50 games were easy
– the rest were somewhere in between.
What do you think about your play? Was it good.
I made around eight to ten blunders. In a game I lost my queen but soon
I won the game as there were many pieces still left on the board! [Laughs]
In another one I got checkmated in a four-move sequence. It was not so difficult,
but yeah I missed it. So that game I lost and another one I made a piece
blunder from which it was difficult to recover. [Both games were analysed
in Part
one].
What was your main intention behind playing this
simul?
It was just a promotional activity. I wanted to promote chess. Of course
a simul is nothing new for seasoned chess players, but for people who are
new to the game, seeing one man battling against 155 can really make them
attracted to the game of chess. 155 was a huge number. Initially when I
spoke with Praful Zaveri, the plan was to just do a simultaneous exhibition,
but later the plan became to hold a really huge one. I was very happy with
the arrangements and branding and overall the way the event was conducted.
The rectangular arrangement excellent for the spectators. They could get
a great view of this exhibition. However, for me it was a huge challenge.
Even after many games were over, I had to travel the same amount to distance
to complete each round. As a result I walked nearly twelve kms!
What is the main benefit from a simultaneous exhibition?
Apart from the obvious fact that it popularizes the game of chess, the
simul can also be a good exercise for spotting gifted players. There were
two or three kids who were very talented and who pressed me really hard
for the entire duration of nearly eight hours. One of them was a little
girl called Pia Saxena and the other was Kabir Belgikar. If properly trained
they can have a great future.
The cute and adorable Pia Saxena (rated 1272)
cannot be taken lightly. She proved it
when she took Kunte right upto the end but finally made a mistake to lose
the game.
She is doing
fine and should draw this game. But then disaster struck:36...Nd5?37.Be4+Young Pia probably only saw that the GM cannot take the pawn:37.Qxe6??Nf4+37...g6Any other move is mate in one.38.Qd7+Kh839.Qe8+1–0
Off the board its easy to miss this little Kabir Belgikar (rated 1381),
but on the board he stamped his authority when he was completely winning
against the GM. But he took a threefold repetition in the end. I think with
right training and guidance, the day wont be far when he would be beating
GMs in one on one encounter!
Playing 155 games for 8½ hours, walking 12
kms! Does this require some preparation before the event?
It was surely physically taxing, but for my fitness I hadn't done anything
special. Everyday I do 24 surya-namaskars and 500 skippings. Maybe that
helped me to keep myself in good stead for the 8.5 hour marathon.
Surya
Namaskara also know as Sun Salutation is an excellent set of twelve
postures which helps you to exercise almost each and every part of your
body!
While playing did you think that you will soon
have your name in the Limca book of records?
Actually the Limca Record was to be set for playing against these players,
not by winning! So once I had arrived there and was going to finish the
simultaneous, the record was already going to be broken! But my main focus
was on try to finish the game within the stipulated time. It was already
3 p.m. when I started, So I had to have a strategy in order to finish the
game before it became too late in the night.
Kunte had a stiff task of finishing the games
in the stipulated time.
So what was your strategy?
The main strategy therefore was to gain a material advantage and close
to winning positions on 30-50 boards. That would mean that I didn't have
to think on those boards. I would just have to make the moves to finish
off the game. I was able to do that and hence I think I was successful.
As for my opening selection, I would just look at the face and try to gauge
how proficient they were at the game! [Laughs]. Mainly I chose e4 because
I wanted to finish off the games early. Also I asked the organizer to put
all the rated players in one row, so that I knew that I had to be careful
when I played these guys.
Now that you have given a 155 player simul, what
do you think about Ghaem Maghami's world record of 604 boards and nearly
25 hours of play?
Its really a great feat. But I must mention that, while the number of
boards is essential, I don't think its the only factor. It is possible to
give a 500 board simul or even a thousand, but what is important is also
the level of opposition. I think that in this simul that I gave the level
of opposition was pretty good. I faced nearly 30 rated players who were
very tough to beat. That's nearly 20% of the opposition. It speaks for the
quality of the event. But I think you have given me some food for thought
now! [Smiles] I think I will start preparing myself to break that record!!
The chess journalist and his hightech tools
This we have got to share with you. Abhijit Kunte was at the World
Championship in Chennai, reporting for a Marathi language newspaper.
We sometimes met him in one of the restaurants in the, working feverishly
at his report for the morning issue.
Abhijit would file his reports using
some kind of writing device (a "pen"?!)...
...on very thin slices of tree ("paper"?!)
Finally – and this is the really clever part – Abhijit
would photograph the pages using his Android smartphone, and press
"Send" to transmit them to the newspaper. There an editor,
using more traditional technology, would type the text into a layout
system and have it ready for the nighttime printing run.
We can only say: if you haven't tried it, don't knock it. Incidentally,
Abhijit is an old friend and a great sport. He explicitly gave me
permission to record his technology and poke fun at it.
Frederic Friedel
Popularizing chess in Mumbai
True, this event broke many records. But I think it's the joy and experience
that each and every little kid gained by playing against a great player
of the country that made it truly worthwhile. Every little kid was excited,
and so were the spectators. It was truly a memorable event.
Mumbai leads a fast-paced life, but the development
of chess has been rather slow [photo Raskalov vit journal]
Mumbai is the financial capital of the country, and also one of the most
advanced cities in the world. However chess wise the city has nothing much
to boast about, except for its sole GM Pravin Thipsay. Lack of vision on
the part of organizers can be attributed as the reason for such slow development
in a city which otherwise leads an incredibly fast-paced life.
Praful Zaveri's efforts in such a scenario gives the city players a refreshing
change. He is planning to hold a U13 Children's Chess Festival in the near
future, at not at only the national level but for foreign children –
by organising a large prize fund, 500,000 Rs. (approx US $8300). With such
positive efforts and already 175 students in his chess school, one can already
see a chess boom coming up in the city!
But as of now Abhijit Kunte, Praful Zaveri
and the Indian Chess School
team
can be proud for having conducted this event in a flawless manner!
About the author
Sagar Shah has an Elo of 2304 and two IM norms to his
credit. His main aim is to become a grandmaster as well as a professional
chess journalist. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him
to understand the game of chess, that he loves so much. A first version
of this article appeared on his chess
blog. Here is Sagar's comments on the match Anand vs Carlsen in Chennai:
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.
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