The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Gopal has a heavy cross to carry

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Tuesday, Jan 02, 2007
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Gopal has a heavy cross to carry

KOCHI: The traditional chenda melam, garlands and a small procession welcomed G.N. Gopal when he landed at Aluva, his hometown, in the early hours of Monday.

Chess fraternity in Kerala had been waiting for its first international master for decades and Gopal brought the title with a stunning bonus too. A few days after gaining the IM title, the 17-year-old finished sixth in his maiden National `A' championship at Valsad and made it to the Indian men's team, ending a 24-year drought in the State.

A new high

Gopal became the second player from Kerala to get into the Indian men's team after N.R. Anil Kumar, who played in the 1982 Olympiad. Gopal also began the new year on a high, with a career-best Elo rating of 2423 in FIDE's January 2007 list which makes him No.25 in India, his best ranking ever.

As he made his journey home, Gopal spoke about his next big goal. "I want to become a Grandmaster soon, want to get it within a year or two," Kerala's new chess king said. "But I'll need to prepare heavily for that. And it will cost me a lot of money."

Pressure

Oddly, till recently, Gopal was known as a big choker, especially when major tournaments reached the home stretch. He is very talented, a hard worker, but time and again, the pressure began to mount soon after he came onto the last mile.

"He has this big problem. Even in the recent Asian junior championship (in New Delhi in November), he choked at the end and missed the gold. We had a discussion recently regarding this," his coach, Varughese Koshy, said on Sunday.

"I told him that he had to find the reason for this, that he had to do some introspection and that he should do it himself," the Chennai-based IM said. "He said... `there is always the next tournament.' Gopal has not driven away all these end-of-tournament ghosts entirely, but I see a new confidence in him," Koshy added. "And yes, I think he will be a GM within the next one year."

Costly affair

Chess, as we see it, seems to be an inexpensive sport. But when you walk the sport's highway, the cross becomes very heavy.

"We've spent nearly Rs.30 lakhs for his chess," Narayana Pillai, Gopal's father, said. "I'll retire next year, but my wife and I have already exhausted our PF money."

Gopal has played around 35 GM tournaments, mostly by paying Rs.15,000 as entry fee. And coaching is expensive too, the country's top coaches charge about Rs.2,000 per day," Mr. Pillai said. "I hope Gopal gets a sponsor or some assistance from the Sports Authority of India which is now helping out many players."

Gopal is very talented, he just needs the big bucks to fuel his impressive flight.

Rakesh, Vipin shine

Off-spinner K.J. Rakesh's six-wicket haul and Ranji star M. Vipin Lal's unbeaten 89 helped BPCL Kochi Refinery `A' defeat Muthoot ECC `A' by 39 runs in the EDCA `A' division cricket league at the BPCL Kochi Refinery Oval, Ambalamugal, on Monday.

The other league match between Swantons and Young Challengers at the Tripunithura Palace Oval was postponed.

The scores: BPCL Kochi Refinery `A' 226 in 30.5 overs (K.X. Manoj 46, M. Vipin Lal 89 not out, Anand Kuttan five for 50) bt Muthoot ECC `A' 187 in 41.2 overs (P.S. Manoj 87, K.J. Rakesh six for 33).

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