This is for my dad: Adhiban

The Masters this year was won by World champion Magnus Carlsen for the fifth time, equalling Vishy Anand’s record at Wijk aan Zee. 

In an email interview, Adhiban said he would love to play well in next year’s Tata Steel Masters. “I would like to dedicate this victory to my dad (Baskaran Balakrishnan) whose presence here (Wijk aan Zee) made a strong impact on my play and my coach Visweswaran whose guidance throughout the event helped me achieve this milestone,” said Adhiban, who plans to “chill out in Wijk aan Zee for some time while my father would be back in Chennai on Wednesday.” 

Adhiban’s score of nine points from 13 rounds; he won six games, drew six and lost one. “I will get 10 points from this event,” noted a proud Adhiban, who is now within striking distance of reaching 2700 on the rating scale. 

“My game against Safarli in the 10th round was themy best since I was able to come back strongly after a loss in the previous game (against van Foreest) and regain my lead with a win in that game,” Adhiban said. 

The Chennai lad said he missed Gibraltar where he had played last year. He is confident his idol Viswanathan Anand would bounce back quickly from the shock of Gibraltar 2016. “I think it is because it has been quite some time since he played in an open but once he feels at home, he will pick up his pace and be back before you know it.” 

Chennai-based GM and coach RB Ramesh feels Adhiban’s performance in Wijk aan Zee augurs well for Indian youngsters. “This result is very encouraging for them. I think, he should look at not 2700 but 2800 as his target because he has come this far,” said Ramesh. 

Adhiban, who lives in Royapettah, shot into fame six years ago when he won the National championship at the age of 17 and became a Grandmaster at 18. He could not meet the expectations soon but in the last two years he has been on the rise. 

The practice is that the winner of the Challengers section would qualify for the main event at Wijk aan Zee. The organisers would find it difficult to handle a technical issue after this year’s tie at the top. Though Adhiban is a certainty for next year’s Masters, Azerbaijani Eltaj Safarli and Russian Alexei Dreev, who tied for first place, may have to wait to know if they are in. On a previous occasion, when there was a tie for first place between two, both the players were invited for the next edition but in this case there are three on the top.

Achievements

International Master - 2008 

U-16 World Champion - 2008

National Champion - 2009

Grandmaster - 2010

Olympiad Bronze medal - 2014

Tata Challengers winner - 2016