Posted on Page : Phanikanth JSS BY Harsha Kiran 22 days ago Phanis interview to The Times >I DO NOT PLAY THE OPPONENTs RATING/ACHIEVEMENTS. I JUST PLAY THE POSITION says the uncompromised young Indian chap who is currently the defending champion of London Rapid Chess. As per the organizer Nick, Phanikanth is the most happening player of 2012 in Britains intermediate chess who gave a spectacular back to back performance at London Rapid followed by Wellington Paddington Chess tournament. Nicholas GM emerges as the winner of Wellington who defeated Jonnalagadda on the first round, and Simon with 6/7 settles for a runner up. Phanikanth, despite having a big let down during the first two rounds gets back with five consecutive wins maitaning a steady spirit and bags the third position with 5/7. Jonnalagadda confidently admits that he is one of the best players in Petroffs Defense opening. Well, we have no way to disprove him as he had won all the games in two major tournaments playing Petroffs Defense with black pieces! >The final round between Lousie and Phanikanth grabs the award of the best game in the series. Phanikanth with 0:41 on his clock, under extreme time pressure continues to think searching for a combination and crushes the U-20 World Champion with having just 5 seconds left by the end of game. This should pretty much answer all the comments and presumptions on Phani about his first victory being an accident. Phani proves himself once again that he is no a seasonal player in rapid as well as classical chess, opines Teifion, the Chief Arbiter of the tournament. >Top rankings in Chess do keep changing by time, in all the categories. But right attitude is what makes you stay long in this game. Ive known Phanikanth since 2009. We observed something that he was never happy about accepting draws at the early stages of game. I was not surprised to know him declining the draw offer against the ex-defending winner. I hardly saw him in an emotional state of happiness and sorrow during or after the result of the game. Chess is a psychological game. It is certainly not an easy task to get back in a tournament after losing the first two crucial rounds. You lose the game if you lose the control on your thoughts and that is what makes Phani a special one among all the players of his age and range. I was worried about him when I havent heard of him for more than 18 months. He had been to his home country due to personal issues. We are now very happy and proud to let you know that this promising boy belongs to our Chess association, aggregates Alan, the Secretary of Northampton Chess club. >On the other hand we have Gordon Bich, James Li, Richard Maclannan, Garry O Grady, Tim Lawson who gave a tough competition to their seniors. These youngsters would glorify the UK Chess in coming years, says Nick. Les Goodey and Ivan Wilson win consolation prizes under U-12 and U-14 category. Harsha Kiran 22 days ago Interview full conversation (Very interesting) :) 1. Journalist: Firstly, Congratulations Phani on winning the championship. It was really surprising and great to see a person winning the championship with such an ease. But we really do not know who you are and where you have coPhani from. Could you please tell us about your background? Phani: Thank you. I am from India. I was a professional chess player, trained by Mr. Ganesh. I had to quit my professional chess in order for Phani to have a proper career. 2. So, Chess is currently your hobby. That sounds great. Whats your profession and for how long have you been in UK. Since when did you start playing chess and who has inspired you. Ans: I am sorry, I would consider never Chess as my Hobby. I came to UK for my education and I am a Network Engineer by profession. I started playing chess when I was 14 years old. My parents had taken the risk and encouraged Phani to continue my career in Chess. 3. Brilliant. 14 years is too late for Professional Chess. I think you are very good at multi tasking for managing Chess and studies. Ans: I have never been good at multi tasking. I quit studies when I was playing chess and I quit chess when I was into the University. I am done with my education and now I am here infront of the 64 squares. Chess has helped my academics but not the other way round. 4. So do you think academics is a distraction to your chess career? Ans: Of course, yes. 5. Are you studying now and for how long have you been in UK. Ans: No, I have finished my education. I had been to India for an year after my undergraduation and back to UK a couple of months ago. 6. Have you played any tournaments in India? Ans: NO. 7. Well Phani. Coming back to Chess.. Whats your favorite opening and how good you are at that. What was your last tournament? Ans: I play Petroff Defense, and I think I am one of the best players that opening ever had. My last professional tournament was Moscow inter university chess champoinship in 2008 followed by All India open in 2005. 8. Thats fantastic. But we have a professional query regarding this tournament. Would you mind if we ask you about that? Ans: Oh, please go ahead. Journalist: From your notation of your last game with Stepan Forman who is an FM (Fide master) and ex defending champion, we came to know that he has offered you a draw. Despite you being the declared champion, you have declined his draw offer while playing black pieces, fought against him and won the final round. Could you please tell us more about that. Phani: You are right. He has offered me a draw on the 9th move and I thought it would be boring if I make a quick draw. I was trained to play the position, but not the opponents rating/achievePhanints. Journalist: We had been to many tournaments and the decided champions usually do not want to stress themselves in the last round. We understand one thing that you are beyond the desire for title. Where do you think he has committed the mistake? Phani: Well, I should say I didnt have the fear of loss for I was already declared as the champion a couple of rounds ago. So, there is no point in playing safe when you are already in a safe zone. Bc4 on 26th move was a dubious move and Ra-b1 on 31st move helped me in consolidating the position and I figured out that the end game would be favorable to me after Queens exchange. 9. Journalist: We happened to know that you are the youngest chess champion of this tournament. How do you feel about this? Phani: Thats so nice of the Organizer for replacing Shortest with Youngest. He: And you are also the first non European to win the tourney. Phani: Well, I am flattered. Harsha Kiran 22 days ago He: You are being too modest Mr Jonnalagadda. Phani: No. Magnus Carlsen who is 21 years old has defeated Viswanathan Anand recently in a series and currently holds the highest FIDE rating in the world. So Strategical chess has got nothing to do with the age factor. Infact, younger chess players enjoy the advantage of carrying less amount of distractions and commitments. And there are wonderful chess players in Asia and USA. But they might not want to travel over to UK for Rapid chess championship. Had I been in India, I myself wouldnt have attended London Chess Festival. So, I dont think I deserve those tags. 10. Journalist: Impressive. Before ending the interview, would you like to tell us something about personal life? Your hobbies, friends and your favorite pass time. Ans: Watching movies, chatting with friends and social networking at times. Journalist: Friends and facebook. Interesting. Phani: Not facebook, but orkut. Journalist: Oh sorry (cuts what he has written on his paper, and replaces facebook with orkut :P). How often do you hang out for parties and celebrations. Phani: Depends on the companion. I do hang out but not here in UK. 11. I have forgotten to ask you about your favorite Chess player. Ans: Bobby Fischer. He is the only chess player who broke the orthodox rules of Chess and created his own identity and made his successors follow his trend. He: Thats good. But we were expecting Vishwanathan Anand for you being an Indian. Ans: Oh yes, I like Anand for his cool temperaPhanint and I had personally learnt a lot from him on how to control your emotions while playing the opponent. But if the game is considered, I would vote for Fischer. 12. Are you still being trained by Mr. Ganesh? Where is he from? Phani: No, I have ended my coaching session with him in 2005. But all the openings, strategies and tactics I played in this tournament were his selection of combination. I am thankful to him as long as I continue to play Chess. He is from a town called Rajahmundry, located near a city called Visakhapatnam. 13. One last question: how many moves could you think ahead? Phani: That again depends on the position. Sometimes just two to three moves ahead would go but if I were to play a combination, I should search for the best moves for the next 20 moves. My maximum successful limit in my career was 17 moves. In this tournament, I had to calculate upto 9 moves while I was playing Stepan. 14. Did you think you would win the tournament? Phani: I thought the professional chess player in me was no more, and I am grateful to ECF (English Chess Federation) for proving me wrong. Okay Mr. Jonnalagadda, it was pleasure talking to you. We feel this day would remain as a memorable one for London Chess Federation and you would be an inspiration to many youngsters in UK, specially for international students out here. You have also proved that rating and title is not at all a barrier for chess. We wish you all the very best in your career for your next tournaments. Phani: Thank you :) Harsha Kiran 22 days ago
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 09:41:06 +0000
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