Pratitee and Aadya, FIDE U-12 World Cup finalists, hope to be queens of 64-square game

Bengaluru: Two Indian women facing each other in the final of the women’s Chess World Cup in Batumi, Georgia, for the first time in history became the talk of the town over the past few days. 

Teen sensation Divya Deshmukh’s win over old horse Koneru Humpy to be crowned the new queen on Monday will go down as a seminal moment in the history of women’s chess in India. 

Interestingly, not long before the history-making campaign of Divya and Humpy, two Bengaluru girls - Pratitee Bordoloi and Aadya Gowda - made a ‘mini’ statement in an all-India final at the FIDE under-12 World Cup that ended two days before the start of the women’s tournament at the same venue on July 3. 

It was 12-year-old Pratitee, having finished with a silver in the last edition, who got the better of 11-year-old Aadya to be crowned the champion. It was the biggest moment of the girls’ nascent careers. 

“I could not finish in classical format and went to tie-breaks and lost last year, but this year I wanted to finish in the classical itself, so I was trying to be mentally stronger and practiced even more,” says Pratitee.

Runner-up Aadya chimes in: “Stage two did not go up to my expectations, but the first stage of the tournament went pretty well, and I even won some important games.” 

It was during Covid-19 pandemic that Pratitee and Aadya first got drawn to the 64-square board. What began as a fun activity slowly turned out to be a serious pursuit for the two girls and with their parents’ blessings. 

“I was introduced to chess during Covid time when we were all at home,” begins Pratitee. “I was a gold medallist in math Olympiad (first level, under SOFIMO - The International Mathematics Olympiad) for five years straight (grade 1 to 5). So my mother thought I could be good at chess too. I went on to become the under-9 national champion,” says Pratitee, a student of Shishya BEML Public School in Bengaluru who is originally from Jorhat district in Assam. 

“I started playing post-Covid for fun. My dad used to play in college so he taught me first,” notes Aadya.  

“My 11th place finish in the 2021 state U-9 (her second tournament) gave me the confidence to play the nationals. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to finish in top-3 but I won a silver. That’s when I started playing seriously and since then I’ve won international medals as well,” said the student of Cambridge International School. 

Both the seventh graders emphasised the importance of preparation and training well, which has been a crucial part of the success they have achieved thus far. 

While Pratitee, coached by GM Pravin Thipsay, highlights the importance of food and sleep and stresses that a happy stomach equates to a focused mind, Aadya, who trains under a few online coaches, relies on meditation and physical fitness to keep her relaxed and mentally strong. 

Well aware of the trials and tribulations of the demanding sport, the Gukesh D and Magnus Carlsen fan Pratitee and Viswanathan Anand-inspired Aadya are focussed on making gradual progress. 

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