A young world chess champion soon, says Negi

By IANS

New Delhi : The game of chess is gradually becoming younger with the advent of technology and very soon we may even have a world champion in his 20s, feels the world's youngest Grandmaster (GM) Parimarjan Negi.


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"Technology has changed the game a lot. With computers now we can analyse our game and modify different areas where we need. The game is becoming young with lot of young GMs and they are also able to make it due to the advent of computer. Probably the age of a world champion may also go down and we may see one at the age of 25," said the 14-year-old GM here Thursday.

Negi, who is considered as a chess prodigy, became the world's youngest GM at 13 years and 142 days last year when he got his third and final GM norm by drawing with Russian GM Ruslan Sherbakov at the Chelyabinsk Region Superfinal chess tournament in Satka. He broke Norwegian wonder kid Magnus Carlsen's record of 13 years and 147 days.

Becoming the world's youngest GM hasn't made Negi complacent and the Delhi boy will be flying to Athens Friday night for a three-week training session under Englishman Nigel Short.

"I am looking to improve my game under the guidance of Nigel Short. During my stay in Athens, I will be analysing my game and work on my opening moves and middle games as well. It is very important for players nowadays to keep on working on their games and be updated," said Negi, who sees a role model in World No.1 player Vishwanathan Anand.

"I don't set long-term goals and now I am concentrating to break into the 2,600 elo points (international ranking points) mark," said Negi, who currently has 2,550 points.

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