Respected Dignitaries on the dais, ladies and gentlemen,
At the outset, I would like to thank the Delhi Chess Association for their support and setting up this function, which I see as an opportunity to share with you all in a nutshell, my journey to the grandmaster title.
I have had an eventful voyage in my chess career since I started in 1998. From playing in my first tournament to addressing you all as a Grandmaster, I have had a fair share of success and failure. When I started playing chess, I had no idea of the masses of knowledge required to excel in the game. And now it just seems to get bigger and bigger. Though it has not yet dawned on me that I am a Grandmaster, I realise that I only stand on the first step of the long-winding, spiral staircase of my international career. I fully understand that many important challenges lie ahead and that this is only the first step towards greater goals.
Here I would like to make a specific mention of the year so far. Since the New Year Day, it has been a journey towards certain goals that I honestly did not perceive before. The International Master title and the first GM norm came in the space of a week, and in the very next tournament here in Delhi came the second Grandmaster norm. Honestly, I did not expect the second norm to follow so soon. But once I had two norms – I wanted to chase the third and the final one in a hurry. Thank god. I didn’t have to wait too long.
On this day I feel truly humbled by the love, affection and blessings of my family, well wishers and also those from the media, and those who wished me well without even knowing me.
My parents have played the most crucial role in developing and shaping my chess. When no sponsorship support was available, my parents made several sacrifices to keep me going. I can’t thank them enough.
Equally, I owe a lot to the constant support and encouragement of my coaches and sponsors.
I would like to start by thanking SEBI chairman Mr. M. Damodran. He is not only instrumental in helping my parents find sponsorship support for my chess, but also remains an encouraging guide to me.
My school Amity International, that has not only helped me in academics but also in my career. I sincerely thank the Founder President of Amity International Dr. Ashok Kumar Chauhan, the Chairperson Mrs. Amita Chauhan, and my school’s principal Mrs. Bharti Sharma, and all my teachers, and friends for helping me in my studies.
My idol, Vishwanathan Anand’s words of encouragement have always been very inspiring for me to strive hard. He is just the perfect idol for all of us aspiring youngsters.
Today the TATA group funds my expenditure. I am grateful to Air India for inducting me in their scholarship scheme. I would also like to thank Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Sports Authority of India for granting me scholarship for part of my training in the past couple of years. I thank Mr. Pradeep Jain, chairman Parsvnath group and Vice President of the All India Chess Federation for his contribution.
I would like to thank Mr. GB Joshi, for helping me develop my chess skills in my formative years, And my other coaches since then – Evgeny Vladimirov, Ruslan Sherbakov, Alexander Goloshchapov and Vishal Sareen. Recently I have also worked for short spans with Elizbar Ubilava, and Nigel Short. I also owe a lot to V.S. Negi, Updesh Sharma and D.S. Negi who have been a great help. And I am very grateful to Mr. Vaibhav Agashe – sports psychologist, who has helped me a lot in the psychological aspect of the game.
In the end I would like to mention Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhan who has been a consistent support for me for many years now and also Mr. Rakesh Rao who has guided me all through with his words of wisdom.
I thank you all ladies and gentleman. Hoping to meet your expectations the next time around.
Thanks a lot
credit: Chessbase.com
