Karpov’s World championships in Thenkara
Maybe I might have been just around 4.5 years old. Might have been a troublemaker for my parents. They chose to edit my Date of birth by 6 months so that I started going to school. 1st standard in ALP School Mannarkkad. One evening my father got a chess board in Mannarkkad and he taught me the moves. On the very first game, I happen to win. That might have boosted the early ego of a very young boy. It took me some 30 more years to understand, my late father Sankara was a great parent and that was his way of motivating his son. I too chose to lose games, when I was teaching my sons Manu and Rishi the rules of chess game.
Soon we moved to Thenkara, a small village on the road to Silent Valley national park. There me and my brother Sasi went to a Govt Upper primary school. A good 2 – 2.5 km walk from our home. There was no electricity there in when we moved. As I had shared , the village was closer to Silent Valley national park. And people out there, protested and stopped a hydroelectric project across Kunthipuzha river in Silent Valley national park. So KSEB wanted to punish us for that transgression. It took a long constant fight with the authorities med by my father to ensure the village got electricity. By then I was at 7th standard. Though the school did have big ground, it was uneven and there was an old dilapidated open well in one corner of the ground. So we were allowed to play only during PT hours supervised by teachers. Leave alone other organized games such as football etc., the school did not have even a proper urinal those days. But Sasi and me tried to make that up in our neighborhood in our own innovative ways. A few years back, someone who lived there during those times had written a FB post, in which he narrated, how two Kannadiga boys brought the game of Cricket to Thenkara. And someone else posted the inauguration of electricity connection in Thenkara, where my father was speaking.
But this isn’t about him. This is about the Chess rivalry between Sasi and Me. Those were the days of Karpov and later Kasparov came to picture. There were no Indian greats in the game of Chess before Vishy Anand. There was one Pravin Thipsay and another Divyendu Barua if I remember rightly. What I remember absolutely is we, Sasi and I got to toss to decide who is going to be Karpov. And then started our best of 5, 7 or 9 game series. Usually, it came after my mother’s warning. No more fights. But the great World Championship in Thenkara always ended in major fight. My father had bought us a chess book in Malayalam, which had rules of games plus a few opening, middle and end game strategies. And the fight was always started by the player who was losing against Karpov. Sometimes me and most of the times by Sasi. There would be a challenge on legality of some move. Since there were no FIDE referees to oversee, that book was our judge and jury. But then it never ended in a proper judicial process. One of us , the losing side, will throw the board and pieces and would storm off. And my mother, strict disciplinarian as she was, would ensure the probable winner, to collect the pieces and board and keep it back. And winner too cried while collecting the chess pieces, like Gukesh did when he won the World Championship recently, but mostly in pain.
As we grew up, our Chess rivalry ended and the passion for the game too. Much later, I tried to teach Manu the game rules. Manu was much smarter than I was and he picked up the game quite fast. But then, I was not as good as a parent like my father. After one game, he stormed out and there ended the chess coaching.
Much later, after he had moved to Jindal for his graduation, we noticed, he always used to play in his phone… While he is travelling with us or even at dining tables. Yesterday morning, he came with me to Little Flower Zendo. He wanted to see for himself, where his Papa is going to live for the rest of his life. And I had plans to take him out and show around Kodai Kanal. But it was raining so heavily here, the Little Flower Zendo waterfalls was roaring like Niagra and we could not even spot the nearby mountain due to mist. We stayed indoor. And he was into his chess.com. I was watching him play for some time. And after the game, he was telling me about how it works. He has a very good rating, which means quite an Advanced player. And in Chess.com 2000+ means a GM. I was quite impressed, and I was pushing him to go to tourneys etc. and how it can translate to building a good portfolio for him to apply for his MBAs. But the boy had Zen like clarity. HE told me the difference between 1800 and 2000 in Chess is like the small mountain in front of our Zendo and Mt Everest. In Chess, you improve your rating only beating players with a higher rating than yours. And it is not easy. Secondly, he plays Chess as a de-stressor. If one start playing it seriously, it really ends up as a stressful act. It is not easy.

Then he talked about the recent World championships. He was following every game minute by minute in Chess.com. He pointed out to me, how Ding was crestfallen immediately a microsecond later after he made a bad move and how Gukesh was crying as if to let go of the tension after winning the crown. According to him Ding Liren too have a very good name in Chess circle as a gentleman and good human being. He seems to have faced server mental health issues and he kind of stopped playing Chess, which had hit his ELO rating badly. People were expecting him to not to even come for the final match. And he did show up and played very resiliently. May be if he was fully ok, he might have won again too.
The second point he shared was much more incisive. He said “Ding is almost like V Anand. He is one of the first player form China to play in Candidates or Chess final like V Anand from India. Gukesh had the guidance from Anand , being trained with him at WACA. And in Chess, the advice and inputs matters a lot, while it is important to recall those inputs at the right moment.”
After that, he slept, and I did not. I started googling on Ding Liren. As someone who had suffered depression and who was on the verge of an abyss, for me, both he and Gukesh were Karpovs. The player with the black pieces was/is black shade of our own mind.
Just a few months back Chessbase reported, “The Ding Liren of a few years ago, who reached a fantastic 2816 Elo, may not return. This is in the Chinese player's own words, but what happened and what does this mean for the forthcoming title match? The opinions and rumor mill have been in full swing, and everyone, and we do mean everyone, has an opinion.In January 2023, the World Champion's rating was still at a fantastic 2811, second only to Magnus Carlsen, but things have taken on a dark and dire drop and in the latest list he has plummeted to 2728.”
And in another interview with a German news paper he says and I quote , “
Normally, a title like this boosts the ego. You feel great. It was different for you. You fell into a deep hole and were away for months.
I had a few problems, that's true. I was exhausted, but I still couldn't sleep very well. That led to depression. I was treated twice in a clinic. Fortunately, things are slowly getting better again. Chess is mentally exhausting - and if you can't sleep well, that's fatal. At least I've been able to reduce my tablets from four a day to one at the moment.
Are you the sensitive type? It was also said that you cried after winning the title.
Yes, the world championship duel lasted so long and was so exhausting. I did my best and after winning the title I thought about all the work I had done before the competition. The emotions and memories overwhelmed me. That's why I had to cry.
You are surprisingly open about your feelings. Doesn't a professional athlete have to be tough on themselves and others?
I was probably so tough before I had my mental problems. That's why I suddenly showed emotions. Now I'm trying to become more balanced again. I now also have a doctor who helps me mentally. I discuss all sorts of things with him. I don't have a mental coach like the table tennis players, who prepares you for the things that are relevant to the game.”
Today morning, it was all bright Sun shine here at Kodai, though the wind was more chillier. Manu and I went to outing with Prakash our Zendo manager. As Prakash was talking about the Suicide point , between 3 pillar rocks and Guna Caves, Manu was asking him, why would people want to kill by jumping into the abyss from there.
I told him , from a first person account, that when people gets severely depressed, they first jump into the deep abysses of their own mind. Only when they are not able to get them out of that place, they jump here. In the games inside our mind, where our dark side plays against us, no Sicilian or Slav defences work against it.

For those who survive, by getting out of that abyss in their minds, usually have sound Seconds , in the form of good dear and near and Doctors.
As we were heading back home, in the FB page of FIDE there was a quote from Ding. “ I think I played my best tournament of the year. It could be better, but considering yesterday’s lucky survive it is a fair result to lose in the end. I have no regrets.”
While, I feel so proud of Gukesh as a fellow country man winning such a great accolade at the world stage at such a young age, what bring real smile in my heart, when a fellow human being , win against himself in the arena of his own mind.
No world championship is worth that much, when we we successfully turn our back towards those low points, including suicide points to face life and live on…





