Chess Olympiad champions are curated in Nagpur

 IM Anup Deshmukh recalls early days of Vidit and Divya while coaching them in city

By Paritosh Pramanik

THE careers of two members of the Indian chess contingent, that won the historic men and women Chess Olympiad gold medals at Budapest on Sunday, were curated in Nagpur.

One is directly related to Nagpur while the other has strengthened his base in the Orange City under the ‘benevolent’ International Master Anup Deshmukh.

IM Deshmukh has shaped many chess careers and Grand Master Vidit Gujrathi and city’s Divya Deshmukh are the ‘two gems of his factory’.

Local lass Divya and Nashik-born Vidit both have learnt the tricks of trade from IM Deshmukh at his home more than a decade back.

Vidit has spent several days in Anup Deshmukh’s house when he was young and was aiming to achieve big in the field of chess. It was a time when only multiple-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand was carrying Indian flag around the world.

Nagpur’s IM Anup Deshmukh decided to produce many more players like Vishy Anand and took VRS from his LIC job to train budding chess players. Today, his efforts are bearing fruits.

Vidit Gujrathi once had thanked Deshmukh for shaping his career.

“Anup sir has played a big role in my life. I remember when I was 10 years old, I had gone to Nagpur and trained with him. Those were some extremely valuable chess lessons. His passion for the game was immense. He would (be) completely immersed in the game while teaching me. This naturally made a big impact on me as a chess player. He helped me win the Under-11 national title. I remember that it was not just me, but also many players from my generation who benefited from his training and went on to become strong players -- GM Abhijit Gupta and GM Swapnil Dhopade to name a couple of them. 

“Anup sir would not charge fees and also take care of the expenses of the students who would come to his place. He is such a benevolent man. No words can do justice to what he has contributed towards the chess fraternity. I am immensely grateful,” Vidit had once wrote on social media.

The same words of gratitude were spoken by Divya. “IM Anup Deshmukh sir helped me to give a good foundation and overall understanding of chess in my early chess career. He guided me in the year 2012 along with Rahul Joshi sir. He used to motivate me a lot and would always tell me to aim higher. I am really indebted and grateful to him for his and Deshmukh Madam’s support and encouragement,” Divya had penned the special praise a few years back.

The joy was palpable when ‘The Hitavada’ contacted IM Deshmukh for his views on two of his products winning maiden gold medals at Chess Olympiad.

“It’s a big achievement, I am really proud of both of them. They deserved it. They can achieve much more,” said IM Deshmukh from Ahmedabad where he is appointed as the head coach by Gujarat Government on a one-year contract.

A down-to-earth coach Deshmukh was reluctant to take any credit of both the players winning the medal and said, “They were with me very briefly and I am sure they have learnt a lot from many other coaches.

“I did nothing. It’s their hard work. There are many coaches who have coached them,” replied Deshmukh.

“It was way back in 2004 when I persuaded Vidit to play one more round and then quit in a national tournament. I still remember when Vidit was in Nagpur for the Under-11 nationals and had lost a couple of rounds and wanted to quit.

“His mother asked me to encourage him. I told him, ‘look Vidit there are no tickets for Nashik so play one round and till then we can arrange the tickets.’ He won the next match and then, again I requested him to play another round that now he had won one match. He continued his winning streak and I kept on encouraging him to play another round. As luck would have it, Vidit claimed the U-11 national chess title,” recalled Deshmukh about his ward who hated to lose.

“Vidit never wanted to lose. He used to get very upset after defeat. I used to try to calm his mind and make him understand that sports is about winning and losing. Slowly he started accepting the defeats but was determined not to commit the same mistakes,” IM Deshmukh narrated.

Vidit’s stay at IM Deshmukh’s home was not very long. “He used to come at my place for a week or so and then return back. Then after a few months he used to come again with his mother. It was a stop-start-stop training. But we used to stay connected over the phone. He was really a hard worker and never used short-cut, same was with Divya,” said Deshmukh as the talk moved towards Nagpur’s only Woman Grandmaster and International Master.

“Divya has been very talented since she was 4-5 years old. I still remember she used to train for 4-5 hours daily. She was very stubborn and never wanted to lose. The best part of Divya was that she had a great grasping power. She was a very fast learner (and still is). Any new move taught, she used to remember it immediately. She is a talented player and will win many more accolades in coming years,” wished Deshmukh.