Chess: Child prodigy Arya Bhakta dreams of playing like Boby Fischer, Magnus Carlsen

Kolkata, Sep 6: Even experienced and skilled players, who have earned International Master (IM) title, remain cautious while facing 12-year-old Arya Bhakta in the game of chess. In last eight years, after he started playing chess, Arya has been a state champion for five times in a row.

The child prodigy has also won the national championship in the under-9 and under-11 categories to keep himself within the top five spots in the national ranking.

The boy, who also is brilliant at studies at a local school Mahesh Ramkrishna Ashram, has always enjoyed beating seniors.

Arya lives in Srirampore in Hoogly district of West Bengal has even defeated the stars like Dibyendu Barua, Nilotpal Das in a recent rapid chess championship in Kolkata.

When asked about his achievements Arya said, “In recent times, my most memorable match was against the International Master (IM) Prantik Roy in the same tournament where I defeated Dibeyndu Barua and Nilotpal Das.”

However, the sixth grader has not been able to get IM norm yet. The reason for this is his financial distress.

Arya’s father Rajesh Bhakta is the sole bread earner in the family and he runs a spectacles' repair shop. There are four members in his family and it's been extremely intricate for Rajesh to maintain the expenses for his son’s chess.

Rajesh said, “Participating in one national championship costs around Rs 30,000. I am indebted to Alekhine Chess Club and its one of its top bosses Soumen Mazumder for his relentless support to Arya.

"Due to the financial crisis, I could not send Arya to participate in the World Championship in South Africa and two Asian Chess championships.”

Most of the tournaments that offer IM norms are held abroad. Unless Arya takes part in the tournaments abroad it will be difficult for him to earn IM norms.

Arya, however, seems confident and assures his father that he will go abroad with the money he will earn from championships held in India.

The 12-year-old revealed, “I want to become player like Boby Fischer and Magnus Carlsen. Both are my favorite players. The reason is that both the greats love to take challenges of overcoming the odds on the board.”