Chess is a traditional game and India has been doing well in this sport since the expoits of Vishwanathan Anand in the world chess scene. Many youngsters have taken up to chess and Mysore city has seen many chess players who have gone on to represent the country in different levels and perform well. One such chess player who has been consistently doing well in the International-level is International Master Girish A. Koushik.
Girish, representing India in the World Youth Classic U-16 Chess Championships held at Al-Ain (UAE) from Dec. 18 to 29, 2013, did everyone proud with his performance when he won the second place in the boys U-16 category. He secured 9 points from 11 rounds and tied with Karthikeyan Murali of India, but the latter’s better tie-break score of 50.5 helped Karthikeyan Murali to clinch the title. Girish Koushik finished a creditable second. He is our ‘Star This week.’
The 16 year old, Girish, is a 1st PU student of Sadvidya Composite PU College in city. Encouraged by his parents, Arun Koushik and Lakshmi Arun, his family members, State Govt., the UCKA and MDCA,this lad has been a consistent performer for our country in the junior level.
Girish, a former World Champion (U-10) in 2006, the first Karnataka chess player to win a World chess title, has grown from strength to strength and has been our Nation’s flag bearer with some spectacular performances in the tournaments whenever he has represented the country.
Girish had wins over Lekic Lazar, Bora Safal (USA), Saloman Johan (Norway), Wang Richard (Canada), Sibasvili Giorgi (Georgia), Wang Yiye (China) and Alekseenko Kirill of Russia. He had draws with Brown Michael William (USA), Asgarizadeh Ahmad (Iri), Petrosyan Manuel (Armenia) and Vorontsov Pavlo of Ukraine.
Girish got his final International Master Norm in this tournament. Presently he has a ELO rating of 2430 and has added 17.1 points with his performance in this tournament.
He also finished fifth in the World Under-16 Blitz Tournament held at Al-Ain. Ranked No. 40 in the country, Girish won gold in the Asian Youth Chess Championships U-16 Open at Sri Lanka in July 2012. He also won gold in the Asian Youth U-16 Open held at Savi- Isreal in June 2013. He had won the gold in the World U-10 Championships held at Georgia in 2006.
Encouraged and helped by the Karnataka State Government, he got the Ekalavya Award in 2012, the SWAB Best Sports person award in 2012-13. He needs to be encouraged and promoted as he has the talent in him to become a Grand Master in the days to come.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / January 05th, 2014