Enter ‘mentor’ in chess!

The 46-year-old quit a job with BPCL, considered one of the best employers for sports in the country, in 2012 to practise his new profession. 

“Even when I was employed in BPCL, I had worked with almost all the top chess players of the country, and really loved doing it. I was part of a generation which was heavily fed with the knowledge of the fundamentals of the game from traditional chess literature, unlike computers. This enabled me to shape up even a strong Grandmaster’s thinking process, help him making career decisions. For example which openings to play, how to plan playing tournaments and keep focus on key moments of his career etc.This was always one of my backup plans as and when I was going to quit BPCL,” says Saravanan, who was very strong in his openings during his playing days in the 1990s. 

Though it was one of the best jobs in terms of encouragement and financial support, Saravanan knew times were changing once he went out of the top players’ list. 

“Even inside the Petroleum sector, BPCL was the toughest employer in terms of expectations in performances, and still has the shortest shelf life for encouraging their sportsmen. In short, we were kept on the sports team only till we met the expected performance levels, and when it dipped behind, they made us work in office as per 

your cadre. I was aware of this and had planned for this quite in advance,” explained Saravanan.

This was when the Chennai IM decided to mentor GMs and also concentrate on his playing career. “I had planned this as one of the ways that I would earn a living. I clearly did not want to get into setting up an academy or training children. This would be impossible if I actively wanted to continue playing. I liked to spend time on chess with young people, and it is enjoyable. So, writing on chess and being a second and mentor were the two most comfortable and competent areas that I wanted to make a living,” Saravanan said of his job. In fact, he has even extended it to being involved with chess events management, lectures and photography too. He did these at the Maharashtra Chess League and the recent Anand Masterclass event at Chennai. 

Saravanan does not know of anyone who practises all these together. “RB Ramesh, Visweswaran (both Chennai) and Vishal Sareen (Delhi) are experienced coaches who have produced fantastic results for their wards, but they are full-time coaches, having stopped playing chess. In Europe, there are very strong Grandmasters who continue to play their chess seriously even while being part of a stronger player’s preparations. For example, at the very top, Cheparinov is a well known name, who worked for long with Topalov. At the lower levels, there are plenty of them,” said Saravanan. 

Saravanan has worked on and off with Vishy Anand, but that is mostly in the capacity of a friendly presence during his sessions. M.R.Venkatesh, Stany, Ratnakaran and Nitin are some players who have been mentored by him.