India's terrific trio at the 18th IPCA Championships in Prague

by Sagar Shah - 26/06/2018

Indian chess has some brilliant chess players up its fold, right from five-time reigning World Champion to the 12-year-old second youngest GM in the world R. Praggnanandhaa. But today we are going to look at three of our champions who have braved all sorts of odds to come out victorious on the chess board. They playing chess shows not only how great the sport of chess is, but also what gritty, determined and courageous individuals they are. We are talking about the terrific trio of IM Shashikant Kutwal, WIM Jennitha Anto and Samarth Rao who are representing our country at the 18th IPCA World Championships currently taking place in Prague.

The reigning IPCA world Champions Shashikant Kutwal (centre) and Jennitha Anto (right) with Samarth Rao (left), bronze in Junior category in World Championships. Also in the picture are fathers of Jennitha and Samarth.

Samarth Rao suffers from celebral palsy

Shashikant Kutwal, hit by Polio at a very young age, is the reigning IPCA World Champion

Jennitha Anto, also like Shashikant was hit by Polio at the age of three, is five-time IPCA Woman World Champion

Shashikant, Jennitha and Samarth are currently in Prague playing in the 18th IPCA Championships. The tournament has not been going so well for all three of them. Shashikant was on 3.5/4 but lost to Polish youngster Nowak Lukasz in the fifth round. Jennitha is on 2.5/5, while Samarth is on 1.5/5.

Rank after round 5

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	IM	Yarmonov Igor	UKR	2352	5,0	0,0	5	17,0
2	19	FM	Valenta Vit	CZE	2039	4,0	0,0	4	17,5
3	10		Tersinsev Andrey	RUS	2178	4,0	0,0	4	16,0
4	5		Nowak Lukasz	POL	2293	4,0	0,0	4	15,5
5	6	IM	Scerbin Dmitrij	RUS	2263	4,0	0,0	4	14,0
6	3	IM	Gurbanov Andrei	ISR	2335	4,0	0,0	3	14,0
7	7	IM	Babula Milan	CZE	2226	4,0	0,0	3	13,0
8	2	IM	Obodchuk Andrei	RUS	2336	3,5	0,0	3	15,5
9	9		Wielecki Zygmunt	POL	2189	3,5	0,0	3	14,5
10	14	IM	Shashikant Kutwal	IND	2133	3,5	0,0	3	14,0
11	12		Tebenkov Vladislav	RUS	2152	3,5	0,0	3	13,5
12	38		Alekseev Mikhail	RUS	1846	3,5	0,0	3	11,5
13	36		Sovetov Oleksandr	UKR	1859	3,5	0,0	2	16,0
14	8	FM	Mukha Nikolay	UKR	2201	3,0	0,0	3	15,5
15	24		Denisov Denis	RUS	2003	3,0	0,0	3	15,0
16	39	WIM	Melnik Galina	RUS	1834	3,0	0,0	3	14,0
17	11		Glazar Domagoj	CRO	2168	3,0	0,0	3	12,5
18	26		Reznicek Marcel	CZE	1984	3,0	0,0	2	14,0
19	33		Gerasimova Svetlana	RUS	1913	3,0	0,0	2	13,5
20	16		Kozhabekov Adilkhan	KAZ	2102	3,0	0,0	2	12,0
21	17		Navratil Robert	AUT	2092	3,0	0,0	2	11,0
22	21		Zavarsky Juraj	SVK	2017	3,0	0,0	1	13,0
23	18		Linqvist Grels	FIN	2042	2,5	0,0	2	14,5
24	30		Nyvlt Otto	CZE	1925	2,5	0,0	2	14,0
25	20		Lipilin Ilia	RUS	2026	2,5	0,0	2	12,5
26	4	FM	Soltanov Serik	KAZ	2293	2,5	0,0	2	12,5
27	23		Kozicz Andrzej	POL	2004	2,5	0,0	2	12,0
28	27		Hanus Michal	CZE	1976	2,5	0,0	2	11,5
29	40		Strakos Jiri	CZE	1831	2,5	0,0	2	11,5
30	37	WFM	Aleksandrova Aleksandra	ISR	1852	2,5	0,0	2	11,5
31	35		Kocur Valter	CZE	1903	2,5	0,0	2	11,5
32	25	WIM	Jennitha Anto K.	IND	2000	2,5	0,0	2	11,0
33	31		Belak Stefan	SVK	1916	2,5	0,0	2	9,5
34	15		Tsapalin Sergey	RUS	2114	2,5	0,0	1	14,5
35	50		Petrov Maksim	RUS	1730	2,5	0,0	1	14,0
36	13		Palin Denis	RUS	2140	2,5	0,0	1	12,5
37	44		Tocklin Tomi	FIN	1798	2,5	0,0	0	14,5
38	32		Smolin Stefan	GER	1915	2,0	0,0	2	13,5
39	22		Jurkiewicz Krzysztof	POL	2010	2,0	0,0	2	12,5
40	34		Lizner Milan	CZE	1912	2,0	0,0	2	12,0
41	43		Mikulencak Jan	CZE	1812	2,0	0,0	2	9,0
42	28		Pronin Vladimir	RUS	1941	2,0	0,0	1	13,5
43	48		Travnicek Jaroslav	CZE	1758	2,0	0,0	1	11,5
44	45		Haderka Karel	CZE	1794	1,5	0,0	1	14,5
45	54	CM	Samarth J Rao	IND	1596	1,5	0,0	1	11,5
46	42		Bainhofner Jiri	CZE	1812	1,5	0,0	1	11,0
47	52		Pilimon Zbigniew	POL	1671	1,5	0,0	1	10,5
48	47		Kouba Petr	CZE	1759	1,5	0,0	1	10,0
49	41		Strnad Pavel	CZE	1827	1,5	0,0	1	9,5
50	53		Shchukina Ekaterina	RUS	1643	1,5	0,0	1	9,0
51	56		Frumin Rebeka	ISR	1361	1,5	0,0	1	8,5
52	57		Vanek Jakub	CZE	1026	1,5	0,0	0	9,0
53	49	WFM	Dorozhkina Mariya	RUS	1749	1,5	0,0	0	7,5
54	58		Sovietova Kateryna	UKR	0	1,0	0,0	1	11,5
55	55		Mikulencakova Jana	CZE	1404	1,0	0,0	0	10,0
56	51		Bola Zygmunt	POL	1703	1,0	0,0	0	9,0
57	46		Slezak Petr	CZE	1767	0,5	0,0	0	10,5
58	29		Holovcak Jiri	CZE	1926	0,0	0,0	0	10,0

The boy who beat Shashikant is Lukasz Nowak (right)

In 2017 when I met Lukasz in Poland, I wrote this about him in my ChessBase report: One of the most inspiring players in the tournament hall was Łukasz Nowak. The 19-year-old from Poland was just a few months old when he was diagnosed with a spinal muscular atrophy in its hardest form. When he was seven, his grandfather taught him to play chess. Łukasz really liked the game and after five years decided to play his first tournament - Najdorf Chess Festival in Warsaw. The boy kept working on the game and his level improved. In 2011 he won a bronze medal in the Warsaw Youth Olympiad and a few months later he became the IPCA World Youth Champion.

In the first round it self Samarth and Jennitha faced each other. The five-time World Champion was able to emerge victorious!

The playing hall of the tournament with enough space for helpers of the players to sit and move around

If you are a helper and you enjoy chess, it can be quite interesting to follow the games!

Fighting against all the odds to play the game you love!

The organizers from Czech Republic have done a great job in hosting this event!

Do send in your best wishes to these champs for the last four rounds. Special thanks to Halsagar Chincholimath for making these photos available to us.

Know our champions:

Shashikant Kutwal: https://chessbase.in/news/im-shashikant-kutwal/

Jennitha Anto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpM3EsSW9eo

Samarth Rao: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/chess-is-a-passion-for-him/article8033674.ece