At 18, twins Yudhajeet and Deeptyajeet De have already won more accolades than their years put together. The Class XII students have not only beaten players on the other side of the chess board but also their greatest opponent – visual impairment.
Yudhajeet was introduced to the game by his mother when he was just six, while Deeptyajeet started picking up the moves from his brother a few years later. Both are FIDE-rated players and Yudhajeet added another feather to his already crowded cap when he won the first edition of the Rapid Blind Chess Tournament organised by the Welfare Society for the Blind last week. Deeptyajeet finished third at the same event.
“We eat, drink and sleep chess. We just love the game. We keep thinking about our moves all day,” said Yudhajeet, whose FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs) rating is 1554. The rating provided by the World Chess Federation denotes a player’s individual skill level. Viswanathan Anand, for instance, enjoys a FIDE standard rating of 2797 at present.
Yudhajeet has had no vision in both eyes since birth but that hasn’t stopped him from taking on sighted opponents. “We have to visualise the board in our mind and remember all the positions constantly. It is tougher when we play rapid chess as there is little time to make the moves,” said Yudhajeet, who finished runner-up in an all-Bengal under-14 sighted tournament in 2010.
The duo have been in the top 20 at the east zone chess meet quite a few times and qualified for Category B of the national championship for the visually impaired. Though Deeptyajeet, FIDE rating 1443, is yet to qualify for Category A of the national meet, Yudhajeet has played it twice.
“Both brothers are keen learners. Yudhajeet is quick to grasp the openings and remembers the moves I teach him. They have improved a lot in the past year. They have to compete more with sighted players now at the national level to gain confidence,” said chess player Laltu Chatterjee, who has been training the boys for more than a year.
The Uttarpara boys met their present coach at an all-Bengal open chess tournament in Rishra and requested him to train them. Before that it was their tutor, Madan Jana, who had taught Yudhajeet the basics of the game and got him interested.
When their mother, Ruma De, wanted Yudhajeet to engage in an indoor sport, she decided chess was the best option. “I thought he could excel in it as it’s more of a brain game and he has always been a good student in school,” Ruma said.
Yudhajeet’s first competitive event was an all-Bengal tournament for the visually impaired in 2008.
“It was held at St. Xavier’s College and I won the runner-up trophy. The taste of success in the very first tournament gave me a huge boost and made me dream,” he said. In 2012, he came third in the junior open national chess meet for visually impaired and in 2014, he found a place among the top 10 in the national A championship.
Last year was also good for Deeptyajeet, who started playing the game at age 10 and played his first tournament in 2011. In 2014, he won three all-Bengal tournaments.
A late entrant in the game, chess is now Deeptyajeet’s sole passion. It is brother Yudhajeet’s first love, too, but he also plays the sitar and is a big fan of Virat Kohli.
A dream they share is to become international masters, but their immediate goal is to make a mark in the ongoing open national chess meet in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu.
What is your message for Yudhajeet and Deeptyajeet De? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Ayuan Paul / Saturday – February 28th, 2015