Abhijit Kunte and Chess in Mumbai

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!

Part one of this report appeared here.

Interview with GM Abhijit Kunte

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.

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!

• Here are fifty games played in the simul

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!!

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.

Organiser Praful Zaveri (yes, he's impossibly tall) with GM Abhijit Kunte

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: