The Anand effect in junior chess

KOLKATA: After Viswanathan Anand���s triumph in th World Championship, there was more success for India on the chequered board. At the World Youth Chess Championship, which concluded on Thursday at Vung Tau, Vietnam, Indian youngsters bagged four gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
In the Under-12 boy���s section Kolkata���s Sayantan Das struck gold by scoring 9.5 points (out of 11).The other players to win gold medals at the youth championships were Vidit Santosh Gujrathi in the U-14 boy���s section, Padmini Rout in the U-14 girl���s section and B Adhiban in the U-16 boy���s category.
SP Sethuraman (U-16 boy���s) and R Preethi (U-18 girl���s) finished runner-up, while Pratyusha Bodda and Debashish Das won bronze in the U-12 girl���s and U-16 boy���s sections, respectively. Another Bengal lad Diptayan Ghosh also performed creditably finishing fourth in the U-10 boy���s section.
Eleven-year-old Sayantan is a student of Goodricke National Chess Academy, which is run by Alekhine Chess Club. According to information reaching here, Sayantan beat Mikhail Antipov of Russia in the final round of the boys��� U-12 category. The class VII student of Scottish Church Collegiate School has an Elo rating of 2112. However, after his victory, he is likely to past the 2200-mark when Fide releases the updated chart in January.
According to his mentor Jayanta Mitra, it has been a steady progress for Sayantan who got a chance to participate in the World Youth meet by virtue of his runner-up finish in the National U-11 championship which was held in Kozhikode last year.
"The AICF however paid only the air fare. According to federation rules, only the champion gets the facility of an all expenses paid trip. Sayantan���s parents had to shell out Rs 50,000 for his boarding and other expenses on this trip," Mitra added.
His other notable performance had come in the Asian Youth Championship held in New Delhi in 2005 where he won the bronze.
Sayantan���s parents Suprabhas and Panchali Das introduced him to the game in 2003 where he practised at a local Shyambazar Club. After winning a few junior level tournaments, he came under tutelage of IMs Saptarshi Roy and Shankar Roy at the Alekhine Chess Club. "Saptarshi and Shankar are his coaches. When the duo is busy playing tournaments, Niladri Sekhar Bhattacharya guides him."