For Erigaisi Arjun, the eighth standard student of Shine High School in Hanmakonda, but learning chess in Hyderabad, it is a dream come true when he qualified for the next year’s World youth chess championship and also the Asian championship by virtue of his gold medal winning performance in the recent Nationals.
Arjun, with a FIDE rating of 2,337, became the first boy from this region to win the national age group title which should also put things in a proper perspective and his also progress in the circuit after joining the Race Academy at Kothapet SBI Colony (Hyderabad) one year ago, according to his coach Narahari Ramaraju, who also coaches GM Dronavalli Harika.
The 12-year-old chess prodigy has the total support of his father Dr. E. Srinivas Rao (neurosurgeon) and mother E. Jyothi. Arjun made the first impression in the chess circles finishing runner-up in the then undivided AP State (under-nine) selection tournament in 2011 and then winning the gold in the 2012 State (under-11) selections in Rajahmundry.
But, what apparently gave this young talent the desired push to dream big was the way he competed in major tournaments like the Aeroflot and Dubai tournaments. So, when he clinched the gold in the Ahmedabad National (under-13) championship, it was not really a big surprise for those following his career.
Known to be really good in his middle and end-games, Arjun is widely tipped to be one of the best young talent to emerge from Telangana. Coach Ramaraju, who is training him for the last one year, points out that there is scope for improvement in the Openings knowledge.
“His time management is really good,” gushes the proud coach. Arjun will now be taking part in the World juniors (under-20) later this month to get a feel of what it means to be in the big league.
He was also the winner of a silver medal in 2015 Asian Youth Championship in Korea.
