Carlsen thambi...

"For entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to anything other than Carlsen is purely intentional. Don't mistake me when I make mistakes. Jai Hind"

p.s. Carlsen is a Tamil name in this story. ;)

--- Age 12 to 13 ---
Grandma calling... "Peraandi, cycle test mudinjudhaa?" (cycle tests over?)
"Paati, naan Aeroflot poitu vandhen. Title theriyumaa?!"
"Dei, olaraadha, ippo dhaan 7th standard padikra nee! Annual exam mukiyama cheks mukiyamaa?"
"adhu cheks illa chess"
"paati ya ethirthu pesariyaa? ellam unga amma va sollanum. adichu valakkala!"

Paati calls daughter "Nee pora vazhiye sari illa dee..."

Carlsen flunks the model exam. Class teacher puts him in coaching class and 'advices' him to attend school.
Carlsen's parents complain he won't be able to attend, as he has to attend a few invitational events. When Carlsen comes to school the following day, the Principal arrives in his class... "Ask your parents to meet me!" His fellow classmates are shell-shocked as these words are easily the most feared, in school parlance. Carlsen coolly goes home and tells the matter to his parents. Carlsen's dad meets the school Principal, the next day.
"Enna Sir, unga payan 'activities' seri illayae..."
"Enna aachu sir"
"Ozhunga school varala, marks kammi ya iruku. Society la enga schoolku nu oru paer iruku. Next year board exam vera varudu, we won't be able to promote him if this performance continues."
"Avan tournament la 'performance' panna mattum paper la news podreengale"
Principal cleans his glasses and says, "Oh really, I will look into it. This is a special child. We eagerly look forward to encourage and motivate these kind of children. We will help them come out with flying colours. Anyway, ask him to study well too, Sir!"
"Sure. Thank you!"
Carlsen passes tenth with 61%, ten days of preparation
-----
 11th standard. Day 1 of school. Principaaal comes to Carlsen's class.
"I know you won't be attending classes regularly. And I am sure you will pass eleventh. But as the Principal of this school, I have to say a few things to you. It's my duty too.
Next year unaku 12th board exam. Idhu 10th maadhiri illa thambi... Life-u! Board exam nalla ezhuthina dhaan nalla college la seat kidaikum; enga college la seat kedaikardhu avlo easy illa! Only outstanding students get into..."
(Classmates giggling)
"SILENCE PLEASE! ...our college. All the best Carlsen"
That was the last day Carlsen attended 11th.
Common exam of 11th standard was not conducted due to the 'professional' practise of starting 12th standard portions in the middle of 11th grade!
-----
Due to family pressure, Carlsen studies till 12th and finishes board exams. Applies to Anna University under sports quota.
-- Review panel ---
Wijk Ann Zee, Tata Steel, Nordic Challenge, Qualifiers, Blitz Championship, Kasparov Training... What's all this? Are these authorized by government of India?
No
Are these official world championships?
No
Continental?
No
Selected through Tamil Nadu / India ?
No
Where is SGFI? This guy is so irresponsible! He doesn't play State events, national events. How can he afford to miss SGFI Nationals? Even if he is state board, they have a nationals too, right?
Yes sir.

Carlsen's mom tries to persuade: "Sir, Madam, he's GM sir! Super GM"
"GM naa?"
"Grandmaster"
"So?"
"SIRRRR!"
"Inna maa, summa koovada, (eating a Good Day dipped in chai...) padu bejaara pochu unnoda. Inga paaru maa, GM o HM o. Rules iruku la! We are government officials. PLEASE don't waste our time!"

Carlsen scored '0' under sports quota, after completing his GM title.
---
Exam results arrive. Carlsen pass. Anna Univ dumps him.
Where does he go?

His paati still calls him...

"En peraandi oru nalla college la Computer o Doctor ko padichu irundha, oorla perumaya solluven; ippo graamathula thalaya kaata mudiyala, oru paya madhika maatengaraan! Idhu enga poi mudiyumo theriliyae! Ivanukku yaaru ponnu tharuvaa!"

"Avalum ava dressum... eeshwaraaa! Enna usuroda podhachurvaan pola irukke! Idha en oorla paatha oora vittu 16 varusham thalli vechuruvaanga!"


Meendum sandhippom! :)

IITK - the trip that wasn't!

The name 'IIT' gives a 'feeling' to many people in India. Let me be clear - நான் அங்கே படிக்கப் போகவில்லை! விளையாடத் தான் போனேன்!

Yeah! 'Udghosh11' is the annual sports fest of IITK (Kanpur) and we somehow got the invitation for it this year. (I honestly think they made a mistake of inviting us! :D ) As usual, the booking of tickets created a havoc before leaving. Aravind (MUSIGMA man) booked tickets separately; Thanks to him, we could go peacefully. This time, Ramnath (IM) was a new member in our team. So the team now looked like 1. ak 2. Prem 3. Ramnath 4. Aravind... "Fair enough" I thought. This should be enough to win!

To my surprise,

Inter Universities 2010

SOUTH WEST

       This time, SRM chess team was much stronger than ever before. The old people - Prem, Aravind and myself were there. Vishnu, Shanmuganathan (jammu), Adhiban, Sethu and Shyam were the new people :) So, there was, as they say in cricket, 'problem of plenty', which is good in the context of the team. Adhiban was in China, playing Asian games and Sethu went to Poland for a closed round robin. So, Vishnu, Prem, Aravind, Shyam, Tr and I were the teammates for both South west and All India (yeah, we know we will qualify).

       I was the Captain again as usual... But I can tell u, I really enjoy this tag! :) As usual, the manager and coach tell me some stuff before the matches; board order discussions, it's tough but fun at the same time. This time, the event was held at Sathyabama University ( http://www.sathyabamauniversity.ac.in/ )... home ground, it was easy to go and come; anyway, I stayed there... just for the so-called 'team spirit!'

The only teams that could put up some resistance against us were Anna University, VTU (Visweswaraiah Technological University)- that's it! Madras University was more or less without its star players this time around since everyone had already passed out - they completed their degrees! :) So, all we had to do was put up a decent performance against these two teams. We drew with Anna ... The fact that Anna University players had exams during the event helped us - they could not perform much; I really felt bad for the team... (We would have won anyway - that's a different thing!) We won the tournament with a phenomenal 31 / 36 - a South West record... We were really happy about our performance. Everyone - the players, the officials and the University people!

What makes team SRM click? More than the strength of the team (which is obvious), the secret is simply the 'team spirit'. A fact worth mentioning is that, a few months ago in Haryana, I had a chance to read 'Time to Declare' - the autobiography of Michael Vaughan.His captaincy experiences really helped me handle our team this time around. On paper, our team is quite strong; but when it comes to team, it's a new team and I had to bring the people together. I am happy that I handled quite well. The board order discussions were much better this year than all the previous years; the players enjoyed playing more than the last two years; lastly, the communication was great within the team!

        Shanmuganathan did an excellent job - above all, he came to play just after recovering from Conjunctivitis; he uploaded photos in facebook almost on the same days and influenced the team to a great extent. Vishnu gave me valuable suggestions before every game. Shyam played all games - he and I have made a sort of record - We have played in the same team for 4 different teams - Velammal school, Chennai Juniors, Chennai UT Dallas match and now... SRM. Prem and Aravind really enjoyed - they travelled together every time... This way, every one felt important in the team and played their part! It was a great experience altogether for me! Lots of lessons learnt too!
Also, I had the chance to meet some old friends - H__ Modi, Shri__ Raj, Sudhar___ and so on! It was great from a social viewpoint too!

Once again, congrats team SRM! :)

ALL INDIA

       The All India was again held at the Magadh University in Bodh Gaya and I can tell u - it's not the place u would like to visit. The campus is simply horrible - tasteless food; poor accommodation, no entertainment and almost no Internet which meant that there is not much connection with the outer world. We have visited this place in 2008 , so we knew the place very well. Anyway, we had to go there and play again.

Shyam could not make it due to unavoidable reasons. However, Vishnu offered to play - which was a great decision. He had to leave on the night of 8th to the National Premiers in New Delhi. Somehow, he made it!

        So - Vishnu, TR, Prem, Aravind and I - this was the team for All India. VTU and Anna University could not make it to All India due to reasons known to no one (or rather , not worth mentioning here!). Osmania and SRM from South West; Delhi, Amritsar, Magadh (home team) and Muzaffarpur from the North east.6 teams, 5 rounds... It was a relatively easy draw for SRM this time and we were determined to win the title convincingly. Delhi was the team to beat. Unfortunately, we only drew with them - I lost to Hemant so at the end of round 2, Delhi and SRM were on 5.5/8. But deep down, I knew this was enough for us because Delhi did not have the 'depth' to blank their opponents 4-0 in the rest of the games. And guess what, that was exactly what happened. The last 3 rounds, SRM blanked Osmania, Magadh and Muzaffarpur 4-0 and finished with 17.5/20 while Delhi could not do the same. So, we won the title with relative ease. Also, all the five players except of course Shyam, won board prizes (if Shyam had come, we would have got only on 4 boards)!

        In the closing ceremony, they invited me to talk on stage. It was a sudden call, somehow I managed! :D I did not mess up, thank God!

        This time, we had a rest day and we managed to play two games of Cricket with Delhi and Osmania people; it was a great rest day! We also had time to visit the historic place of Buddha at Gaya. It was a great trip , ok, we managed to make it memorable!

This was our first title in All India and I am extremely happy about it! Congrats guys!

As they say, "SRM rocks!" - the team which always redefined team spirit! :)