Two in a row, Karthikeyan scales a peak in chess

One year later, he added a second national title, this time in Lucknow. And the common factor in these two wins was on both occasions luck smiled on the brave Chennai lad. 

In Tiruvarur, Karthikeyan started with two consecutive losses. But the youngster came back strongly staving off SP Sethuraman and Vidit Gujrathi to become the youngest to win the Indian National champion along with Viswanathan Anand. 

In Lucknow, he was in almost the same situation, his fate dependent on other boards. 

Aravindh Chithambaram had been leading the national for most of the tournament. Karthikeyan had a lucky start to his tournament when he won on time against Vidit Gujrathi. But then, he lost to Aravindh. Karthikeyan kept playing consistently and caught up with Aravindh going into the final round. 

In the final round, had Aravindh won, he would have won the event. Had he drawn and had Karthikeyan won, the latter would become the champion. Had Karthikeyan and Aravindh both lost, Aravindh would still be the winner. But Aravindh lost. All Karthikeyan needed to win the tournament was to at least gain a draw. But he won and pocketed the title for the second time. 

Again, Chennai re-asserted its grip in the championship in the last seven years. Six of the seven titles were bagged by Krishnan Sasikiran, Baskaran Adhiban, G Akash, SP Sethuraman and Karthikeyan (twice). 

A commerce student of SRM University of Arts and Science, Karthikeyan is at a crossroads of his career. He was 2500-plus in rating when he had won the national last time and after that he has not make any headway. “I want to cross 2600 in a year,” he had said that time but he is still at 2530. 

Karthikeyan, who had won the World under-12 title in 2011 and the World under-16 title in 2013, was under coach Velayudham at Bloom Chess Academy and then with K Visweswaran. But he is now with RB Ramesh. 

“He is a good talent, extremely strong in calculation of variations,” says Ramesh of his ward. “He needs to play more in strong open events in Europe and get his rating up fast. He is being supported by Ramco Group financially, which is very good for him.” 

Ramesh reckons age is on Karthikeyan’s side. “Winning National twice is a very creditable achievement for someone so young,” says the coach.