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Chess babe's winning dance
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A good dancer and badminton player, Teenu Thomas decided to take up chess seriously. The little girl is now making some winning moves in a quieter world, says STAN RAYAN
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Pic. by H. Vibhu
A FEW years ago, little Teenu Thomas was a good dancer. Dancing folk, Western and classical, came naturally to her. With her elder sister Teena, a former seven-year district schools `kalathilakam,' it did not take long for Teenu to swing and shake her leg with grace and with ease. She was also a sort of all rounder in sport, fairly good in badminton and athletics.
"But one day, while playing cards, we realised that Teenu had a strong memory. She could remember all the cards we dropped, the kings, queens, aces and jokers and in the right order too,'' said her mom Alphonsa. So, her parents decided to introduce her to another game of kings and queens.
Teenu was initiated into chess but it was not just a casual introduction. Her parents put out an ad in newspapers, to get a good coach to train their little girl.
A little more than two years ago, State player R.Ganesh Bhat began training her. Three months later, Teenu won the silver in the under-7 State Championship. The next year, she bagged the under-9 State title and early this week, the little girl retained the crown.
And in June, the nine-year-old Teenu finished eighth at the under-10 Asian Championship in Kozhikode. And she was making her international debut.
Chess is all about hard work and hours of coaching these days. And a few children, in States like Andhra Pradesh, even drop out of school to concentrate on the sport. And good coaches are paid by the hour, and handomely too.
Teenu also had a few reputed coaches guiding her, including Russian Alexander Lyssenko, who was in Kochi for nearly a month recently to train her. She also had several weekend coaching sessions from International Master T. N. Parameswaran, a top coach in the country.
"Her father Thomas Joseph (a Sales Manager with Kuwait Petroleum), believes in offering the very best in whatever his two children want to pursue,'' said Ganesh.
"Teenu plays a simple game with very few mistakes. Her opening lines are simple but she is strong in the end game,'' says Ganesh, who coaches the chess princess for nearly three hours every day. Still, Teenu, a fourth standard student at Choice School, Thripunithura, is good at studies too.
But she does not have much time left for dancing, badminton or other games these days. "We want her to come up in chess. She is too young now, but if she thinks that chess is becoming a strain as she grows up, the decision to continue the game will be solely hers,'' says her mother.
For now, Teenu appears focused on the sport. "Chess is my main game, but I'd like to retain dancing as a hobby,'' says Teenu, with a shy little smile. She also plays with a computer these days, even as she sends out e-mails to her father in Kuwait.
And for sure, there will be a lot of good news to convey.
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