Sharvaanica - The 7-year-old who wins all her tournaments with a 100% score

Sharvaanica A S - the 100% girl of Indian chess

Sharvanicaa lives in a place where there is very little internet connection. Hence, we waited for her to come to the Hatsun academy. We also wanted her coach GM Vishnu Prasanna, who is the head trainer at the Hatsun Academy, to be present there so that he could translate some of the things from Tamil to English. Hailing from Udayarpalayam, a small town in the Ariyalur district, Sharvaanica comes from a very modest background financially. But her dreams are big in chess! A nd that's the reason why we have decided to award her with one month of YouTube membership amount (Rs.53365) to boost her chess (Check the end of the article).

IM Sagar Shah (SS): I'm joined here by two very special guests - Sharvaanica and GM Vishnu Prasanna. Sharvaanica won the National U-7 Championship, and she won in all the formats of the Asian School Championship 2022, all of them scoring full points! Sharvaanica, how do you win all of your games?

Sharvaanica (Sharva) : My Opponents didn't play well, one of them blundered a piece and I checkmated them. It's simpler to win all the games and become the champion!

SS: Nice! That is a great attitude which everyone tries to have, but very few people can achieve it. So Congratulations for doing that!

Right now you are at the Hatsun Chess Academy, and your sister is also there. What is your rating, Sharvaanica?

Sharva: My Rapid rating is 1050, standard rating is 1057, and I don't have a Blitz rating yet. I gained 21 elo points in the Asian Schools Championship.

SS: What is your sisters rating? When you both play, who wins?

Sharva: My sister has a Rapid rating of 1110. Both of us win!

Vishnu Prasanna (VP): She's being diplomatic at the age of 7 years! [laughs]

SS: Sharvaanica, who is your coach?

Sharva: My coach is GM Vishnu Prasanna sir.

SS: So you come to the Hatsun academy everyday for training? Vishnu, where does she live?

VP: She lives fairly far away from the Academy. She's actually from a very small town in the Ariyalur District, Udayarpalayam.

SS: How did this talent come in Chess? What is her story?

VP: I think somehow they were interested in chess. When she was four years old, she used to name the all the Indian states and capitals correctly. Her sister actually taught her chess, she is unrated but actually a fairly decent player. When we launched the first trials for our Academy, I think she was a part of it. We take people in our Academy through trials, only through qualification we take them in. She was part of the first batch we conducted in August 2021.

SS: Wow. So this Hatsun Academy is in which place?

VP: It's in Thiruthangal, which is in between Sivakasi and Virudhunagar.

SS: So, Hatsun sponsors this Academy and players from different places nearby come, stay there for a few days and train with you.

VP: Yeah, they sponsor the training program at the Academy.

SS: Wow! I think Sharvaanica is one of the talents that has been discovered there.

VP: Yeah! They do a lot of work related to Sports here. They also have a Badminton academy, aimed at promoting rural and urban children. There's an opportunity for rural children to do really well. This girl is a clear example of that, I think I would've never met her if it wasn't for this Academy probably. I think this was a good opportunity to provide equal footing for Rural children.

SS: Absolutely. It's amazing that you are spending time here, we all know how busy you are with your own Academy in Chennai, also working with Gukesh. You have so much on your plate, but I think you love this initiative and that's why you are a part of it.

VP: Yeah, definitely. I think I'm able to reach people I would've not been able to otherwise, and it's a pleasure to find such a challenge. It goes to show you that talents are everywhere, and I'm sure that there will be more children from our Academy who will do well just like Sharvaanica.

SS: I have no doubt about that! Sharvaanica, do you like chess very much? Do you enjoy chess?

Sharva: Yes sir!

VP: You know, from the first day itself, she was one of the kids who are able to sit through the entire day. The program goes for the whole day - it goes from 9:30 AM to 5 PM. When we took her in, we suggested that you can come for the half day because you're very young, but she was ready to sit down for the whole day.

SS: Amazing. I think this is one of those traits which is always there amongst very talented kids, that they are able to enjoy chess a lot.

Sharvaanica A S (1029) vs Kiyana Parihar (1044), National U-7 Girls Championship 10th round

SS: Sharvaanica, why did you put your Knight on d2 instead of c3?

Sharva: Because I want to play b3 followed by Bb2, and I would bring my Rook to c1 in the open file.

SS: At this point, did you like your position already?

Sharva: Yes. I will develop my Bishop to f4, next I'll play Rac1. The Knight is looking at d6, and the Black Bishop on b7 is not so good.

SS: What were you thinking in this position?

Sharva: I thought that my pieces are not well-developed, so I played Bf4 developing my light-squared Bishop.

SS: After 15. Bf4 Qc7 16. Nd6 Rd8 17. Rac1, do you think your opponent wanted to sacrifice their Knight with ...Nxe5?

Sharva: After ...Nxe5, I have Bxe5 Bxd6 Rxd6, and now Rxd6 leads to Qe8#.

SS: After 17. Rac1, Kiyana played 17....Nf8 instead. But now she fell for another trick - 18. Be3 Bxd6 19. exd6 Rxd6! 20. Rxd6 Qxd6 21. e5 wins a piece!

After 21...Qb8, you played the very nice 22.Qc6!

Sharva: If I play Bxh8, then after ...Qxh8 the h8-a1 diagonal is weak. That's why I went for the full Rook with Qc6.

SS: Nice, good one! After 22...Bb7 23.Qxb7 Qxb7 24. Bxb7 you are just a piece up, and you converted it without any difficulties.

Inzhu Abibulla vs Sharvaanica A S, Asian Schools Chess Championship 2022

SS: Vishnu, how would you describe Sharvaanica's style as a player? Because at the age of 7 it's not so easy to have a style as such, but still.

VP: She has a tendency towards strategic thinking, and has a good positional sense.

SS: It's very interesting that Mikhail Tal is her favorite player, and she looks at strategical things [smiles]

VP: Actually, her advantage is that her sister also plays and she plays fairly decently.

SS: Sharvaanica, were you not worried about your Bishop on c8? Look, it is closed.

Sharva: Actually, I had lost a game before by developing my Bishop to g4, as the White Queen came to b3 and the b5-e1 diagonal became weak. So, I kept my Bishop on c8, later developing it via b6-Bb7.

SS: After this, your opponent played 10. b4?! Do you think this is a good move?

Sharva: No, it is a bad move because now the c3-pawn is a backward pawn. Now I started attacking that pawn with ...Bb7 and ...Rc8.

SS: In the above position, your opponent played 14. Bxe4. Is it possible to play 14. c4?

Sharva: Yes sir, it is possible. Then I will play 14...Nxd2 15. Nxd2 dxc4, and now the g7-bishop is open. After that, I want to play Bg5, trade off the dark-squared Bishops and threaten mate.

SS: Now you found a very nice tactical shot to win a pawn!

Sharva: Yes, and there is no backrank mate after exd4 Qxb3 Rxc8+ because I have Bxc8.

SS: Here, Sharvaanica played ...Rxf3! and after gxf3 Qxf3, there is no way to avoid Qh1#. What a game!

Sharvaanica, I have a position for you to solve.

Sharva: The idea of Rd1 is to play Rd6. But the idea here is ...Ne5+! Bxe5 Rxd1 Bxc7 e5! Bxe5 fxe5, and there is no way to stop Rd4#.

SS: Excellently done Sharvaanica! Here's one more, this is the last one:

Sharva: The problem with ...hxg4 is, White plays f4! and wins the game with h5-h6-h7-h8=Q. The Black king cannot run back because the e5 square is controlled by the f4 pawn. That's why Black should play ...fxg4 fxg4 hxg4 h5 Ke5, and now it is a draw.

SS: Wow Sharvaanica, I am very impressed! I am very happy to meet you today. Which is your next tournament?

Sharva: I will be playing the U-9 National Championships in Madhya Pradesh next. 

SS: Oh wow - you know, Team ChessBase India will be there! We will meet you there. Do you watch ChessBase India, Sharvaanica?

Sharva: I have seen some of the interviews!

SS: That's great! Vishnu, what do you think is the way in which she develops from here?

VP: She's qualified for a lot of tournaments by winning this National Championships like U-8 World Championship and so on. So, we're gonna try to win that , and I'm also keen on really improving her rating quickly. So whenever she doesn't have a category event, she will play Rated events so that she can climb up the rating ladder. I think she's underrated still.

SS: For sure, the way she solved these positions which I took from Dvoretsky's book, which is not at all easy, is amazing. Sharvaanica, all the best to you , and Vishnu, thank you so much for making this interview happen.

VP: Thank you, Sagar for telling everybody about Sharvaanica and what she has done. I'm sure we'll meet again for another interview!

Sharva: Thank you and Bye sir!

Sharvaanica gets March YouTube memberships of Rs.53,365

The month of March 2022 had 265 members on our YouTube channel. We had 61 pillars of Indian chess (Rs.799 per month), 4 promoters of Indian chess (Rs.599 per month), 18 supporters of Indian chess (Rs.299 per month), 32 Boosters of Indian chess (Rs.199 per month) and 150 Backers of Indian chess (Rs.89 per month). Here are the details of all the members.

The total amount comes to Rs.53,365 (after 30% YouTube charges). This entire amount has been given to Sharvaanica so that she can use it for her upcoming tournaments, training and much more. Sharvaanica hails from modest financial background and this amount is sure to help her chess career. We thank all our YouTube members supporting us through the thick and thin and for helping us power Indian chess.