Checkmate stalemate

The 19-year-old Harsha Bharathakoti is the second chess Grand Master from Telangana, who delivered a stellar performance at the International d'escacs de Sants in Spain, which was held between August 23 and September 1.

After 10 gruelling rounds, Harsha had stood first in the overall standings of the championship. The Hyderabadi player, who assumed he’d won the championship, then stepped out of the stadium for a couple of hours to celebrate the joyous moments. But little did he know that his excitement would be short lived. On his return to the stadium, Harsha found out that the championship had announced someone else as the victor.

“When I attended the prize distribution ceremony, I was told that the organisers tried contacting me because I had a playoff match because the standings between me and another player were equal. I am told my friends too tried calling me. It seems the playoff was to start immediately after the final (10th) round, and as I was unavailable, my opponent got a walk-over and I eventually finished second,” recalls Harsha with a heavy heart.

The grim knight
Accepting the unexpected turn of events has not been easy for Harsha, who reveals that he even lost sleep over it. “It was incredibly frustrating because after having played so well throughout the tourney, I couldn’t win it even though I believe I could have. What’s more, it rankled me that neither did the arbitrator apprised me nor was there any announcement made about the playoff after the final round concluded. So I assumed I had won the tournament. Also, everything was written in Spain, which made it even more difficult for me,” says Harsha. All said and done Harsha looks at the entire experience as a lesson to learn from. “I was happy with my performance, and I would like to focus on improving my game in the upcoming championships,” says Harsha.

Castling through life
For someone who started playing chess as a hobby at the age of seven, the game is now a way of life for the five-time National Championship who’s completed his intermediate in Sai Chaitanya College. His fascination for the game kept growing and soon Harsha, who is coached by his uncle Ramaraju (who also trains Grand Master Dronavalli Harika), was practising the game online for seven hours daily.

Harsha, who won the 3rd International Memorial of Irena Warakomska Cup held in Poland this year, admits that while balancing chess and academics has been challenging, the game has had a great influence on his life.