Aravindh peaking at the right time

Chennai

Winning the Asian junior championship in New Delhi on Wednesday, the Grandmaster from Chennai (originally from Madurai) has proved that he could be at his best when the odds are against him.

His Indian teammate SL Narayanan was leading the field going into the last round in the Asian junior but Aravindh won the tiebreak race in style. The Asian junior may not be a big achievement for Aravindh who is already a GM and with a good rating (2530-plus) his coach RB Ramesh thinks this result is significant because his ward is in the middle of a good run this year.

“The most important thing is he is picking up rating points from Delhi,” said Chennai-based GM Ramesh, who is currently on a coaching stint in Mumbai. “He did so well in three major tournaments this year, at Gibraltar, Cannes and Aeroflot. This was good for him because he did not have a good 2015.”

Aravindh shot to international attention when he won the tough open tournament in Chennai that was held concurrently with the World Championship match between Anand and Carlsen scoring nine points from 11 rounds. He then came fifth in a strong open tournament in Kuala Lumpur. Soon he took second place in the Commonwealth championship in Glasgow.

“Along with good results, it is also refreshing to see him playing strong Grandmasters,” added Ramesh, who believes Aravindh’s strength is that he is a very original player. India had a naturally talented player in Dibyendu Barua in the 1980s and he often struggled to cope with theory and openings but Ramesh thinks Aravindh is a “more concrete player.”

Two years ago in Riga, Aravindh made headlines when he beat top seed and former World championship challenger Alexei Shirov to tie for shared second place on points but of late he has been struggling to get good results. All that changed this year when he found his form.

Strong Indian Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi recalled an interesting incident about  Aravindh.

“I have never spoken to him I came to hear about him as a kid who refused a draw offer against a seasoned Indian GM in a complicated position and went on to beat him.” Aravindh should be one of the leading contenders for the World junior championship in Bhubaneswar in August.