By IANS,
Ahmedabad : Gujarat’s chess prodigies Jeet Jain and Hetul Shah, who performed well at the just concluded Under-9 National Championship in Delhi, have given hope of a bright future.
Jain finished second while Ahmedabad’s Shah was third. Both have booked berths in the Indian teams for Asian and World Under-9 Championships, to be held this year in Vietnam and Tehran, respectively.
“I just played normally,” said the Surat-based Jain matter-of-factly of his triumph.
Jain’s mother Priti said her son secured second position with nine points out of a maximum 11 at the nationals that concluded Tuesday.
“My son this year won the state championships in under-9 and under-11. In the under-7 state championship last year he was placed seventh,” Priti told IANS from Surat. She said Joy Chauhan is his coach.
Asked how he felt after beating top seed Arjun Bharat of Karnataka in the final round, Jain was at a loss of words to explain his achievement.
Jain, a class III student of Surat’s Delhi Public School, has showed exceptional promise since he was five. “He has won countless Surat district championships,” said Priti.
Shah, also a class III student – of Delhi Public School, Ahmedabad, made a determined fight back to draw his concluding game against Dhonnar Nachiketa of Maharashtra. Shah finished with 8.5 points and secured the third berth in the Indian team.
“Hetul played in the Commonwealth under-8 championship held in Turkey, earning the 22nd place last year,” said Hetul’s father Jagruti Shah.
He said his son had also come first in the state championship and third at the nationals. Jagruti Shah said Hetul has defeated many top rated players in the state tournaments.
Delhi’s Commonwealth silver medallist Harshal Shahi defeated Jerome Jorge Ebenezer of Tamil Nadu in the final round of the national under-9 title totalling 10 points.