Tiny tot Shraddha Somanath (5), a kindergartener of Greenwood High International School, Bangalore, has become a celebrity in her school and beyond, by bagging a silver medal at the Asian Schools Chess Championship held between August 30-September 6, in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka.  Shraddha was the runner-up in the Classical Chess and Blitz categories in the Under-5 girls section of the championship, which attracted participation of 385 children from 15 countries worldwide.

Although barely able to tie her shoelaces, Shraddha’s grandfather and parents — Lakshmi N. and Somanath K. —  former national level chess players, are convinced that their daughter is a prodigy. Already, this preschooler is a veteran of competitive chess tournaments. In June, Shraddha was the runner-up in the Under-5 category at the National School Chess Championship held at Chennai, which drew 400 players from across the country. However, her first major victory was when she checkmated her opponents to bag a silver in the Under-7 girls category at the Dasara State Level Chess Tournament held in Mysore in October 2012. Since then, Shraddha has participated in eight state and national  tournaments.

With competitive chess play being a family passion, her parents believe Shraddha has a genetic aptitude for this mind game. “During the national and Asian championships, Shraddha exhibited unusual maturity by developing and applying novel moves and strategies. Although she lost to Sahi Patil of Maharashtra in the final of the nationals and the Asian Schools Championship in Sri Lanka, in the latter tournament she narrowed the difference between her and Sahi from two points to less than half. This shows that Shraddha is rapidly improving her game,” says her proud mother Lakshmi who together with her husband, coaches budding Greenwood High chess players.

Like any other five-year-old, chirpy Shraddha watches cartoons on television in her free time and loves to “paint and eat ice cream”. However, she is assured of the full support and coaching of her doting parents to get to the top of the game. “Since she has begun very early and is doing well in competitive play, we are hopeful she will mature into an international player soon. We want Shraddha to become India’s youngest chess grandmaster and will give her all the support she needs,” enthuses Lakshmi.

Go get ’em Girl!

Sangeetha Samuel (Bangalore)