Ilamparthi: the boy who makes Pragga and Nihal look old!

He is just eight years old but already boasts of a rating of 1765. This makes him the world number one in the under-8 section. This rating also makes him India number one in the under-9 category. He played some excellent chess at the Delhi (category B) and Chennai International 2017 to gain 235 Elo points! In his short chess career till date, he has already played more than hundred tournaments including national, state and district events.

Meet Ilamparthi A.R., one of the brightest talents of Indian chess. The boy will turn eight on 28th of March 2017, but he has been playing chess for nearly four years now! Ilamparthi was five years and six months old when he received the rating of 1070. He has been on a mission ever since, gaining 700 Elo points over the last two and a half years!

Ilamparthi is very much interested in chess. He started playing the game when he was four and has never looked back. Ever since he has started participating in tournaments at the age of five he has more often than not finished in the top three spots. For a young boy he clocks some impressive hours of chess practice - 3 to 4 hours on a weekday and more than 10 hours on weekends and holidays. This truly shows his passion and ability to work hard.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle his coach Ravichandran of Mount Chess Academy said, "I have no doubt Ilamparthi's potential. He will surely be an International Master before he turns eleven. When I first saw him I straight away knew he was a special talent. Ilamparthi stands out from his peers thanks to his ability to solve chess problems with effortless ease. While others would be setting up the position, Ilamparthi would have already found the answer. He is so good that I had to ask a noted coach Mari Arul to train him."

Ilamparthi's father Ravikumar, who works as a programmer in a company dealing with computer education, says,"I used to play chess for recreation. When I taught him the basics, Ilamparthi picked them up instantly. He has the patience and passion to concentrate for long hours. On holidays he trains for as long as ten hours with the help of books and computers." 

The best way to understand the strength of a player as young as Ilamparthi is by seeing his games and annotations. We asked the boy to send some analysis of his own games and we now present them to you. Have a close look at not just the moves, but also his notes to understand Ilamparthi's deep understanding at such a young age.

The first game deals with an exchange French, where from a symmetrical position Ilamparthi grabs space and is able to tactically outplay his higher rated opponent.

About the above position Ilamparthi writes, "Black wants to play f5, Nf6, Ne4 and block the e-file. If White plays Nxe4 then after dxe4 Black is having the d5 square and is close to winning." This clearly shows some sort of schematic thinking and the fact that the boy can think in terms of plans rather than just concrete moves.

The next game is very pretty. Ilamparthi's opponent plays the London System and the seven-year-old is up to the task, playing some very innovate ideas in the opening and following it up with powerful middlegame play.

Another example of Ilamparthi's excellent understanding is the above position. He writes, "White cannot play d5 and close the Bishop on b7 as the c5 square would be weak, and the bishop on g7 would be very active. And if I did not play cxd4, White would play d5, the c5 square would be missing."

The final game that I would like to show you is without any word annotations, but just have a look at how Ilamparthi tries to make use of the bishop pair and plays smoothly in the opposite coloured bishop endgame.

It is quite obvious from his games that Ilamparthi has great potential. If given the right direction and backing he is sure to make it big in the years to come. However, talent in itself is not sufficient. In the past, he had been selected to participate in the Asian Schools U-5 Chess Championships-2014 (held at Korea), Asian Schools U-7 Chess Championships-2015 (held at Singapore) and Asian Schools U-7 Chess Championships-2016 (held at Iran), but he was unable to participate as the cost was too high for the family to afford.

He has now been selected for the Asian Youth Chess Championship-2017 (to be held at Tashkent, Uzbekistan) from 31st Mar 2017 to 10th Apr 2017 and World Youth Chess Championship-2017 (to be held at Brasilia, Brazil from 21st Aug 2017 to 31st Aug 2017).

Appeal

Ilamparthi's father writes, "For participation in any international tournament, it costs us around 2 lakhs to meet the travel, visa, accommodation charges, etc. and in case of a national tournament (to be conducted except south India), it takes around Rs.20,000 to meet the expenses. He should play a minimum of 2 international and 5 national tournaments per year. Hence, it would cost around Rs. 5 lakhs per year. As we are from average income group, it is very difficult to meet the expenses and hence I appeal to the philanthropists and chess community for their generous sponsorship to my son who is being trained under an expert coach."

Let us support Ilamparthi's chess career by helping him in whatever way possible. Who knows your small contribution now, can help us create the next super-talent who will take the world of chess by storm just like Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin!

ChessBase India is offering ChessBase 14 software to Ilamparthi to help him prepare better for his upcoming Asian Championships. In case you would like to contribute, here are the details:

V. Ravikumar (father): 09976886666, amsravi@gmail.com

Notable achievements of Ilamparthi:

1. Ranked World No.1 Under-8 chess player with a FIDE ELO rating of 1764 as per recent FIDE rating released on Feb 2017
2. Ranked India No.1 Under-9 chess player with a FIDE ELO rating of 1764 as per recent FIDE rating released on Feb 2017
3. Increased 235 ELO points in one month Jan 2017
4. One of the youngest FIDE rated player in India (Opened rating at the age of 5 years 6 months)
5. Secured prize in National Schools Chess Championship which he played 2014 (Gold at New Delhi), 2015 (Silver at Goa) and 2016 (Gold at Maharashtra)
6. Secured price in all Tamil Nadu State selection Under-7 tournament which he played 2014 (6^th place at Hosur), 2015 (Silver at Erode) and 2016 (Gold at Chennai)
7. Gained 133 ELO points in Karur Fide Rating Below 1600 All India Chess Tournament-2016 and Placed 17^th rank in OPEN tournament where 527 players participated. Even he was the one of youngest participant.
8. Gained 128 ELO points in Delhi International Open Chess Tournament 2017 and Placed 1^st in Under-9 Category where more than 600 players participated.

National Level:

1. Silver Medal winner in 30^th National Under-7 open Chess Championship 2016 held at Pondicherry from 19^th Sep 2016 to 27^th Sep 2016
2. 9^th Place (at the Age of 7) in 30^th National Under-9 Chess Championship 2016 held at Jalandhar, Punjab from 22^nd Aug 2016 to 30^th Aug 2016
3. 1^st Place in 5th National School Chess Championship-2016 U-7 Open Category held at Nagpur, Maharastra from 5^th Jan 2016 to 7^th Jan 2016
4. Board Prize winner in CBSE South Zone Chess Team Tournament 2015-16 (U-10 Boys) held at Secunderabad, Telangana from 8^th Oct 2015 to 10^th Oct 2015
5. 4^th Place CBSE NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2015 (U 10 MIXED) held at Kolkatta, West Bengal on 12^th Dec 2015
6. 9^th Place (at the Age of 6) in 29th National under 7 Open Chess Championship 2015 held at Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
7. 2^nd Place in 4th National Schools Chess Championship 2015 U-7 Open held at Goa from 29^th Jan 2015 to 31^st Jan 2015
8. 1^st Place in 3rd National Schools Chess Championship 2014 - Open Under-5 held at Delhi from 11^th Jun 2014 to 13^th Jun 2014