Nagpur: Sankalp Gupta used to play chess as a hobby with his mother when he was a kid. Gupta, who is yet to be 18, has won the title of becoming the 71st Grandmaster. But Gupta, who is originally from Nagpur, has been a chess prodigy and has rightly channelized his passion into the sport. From the age of four, he started winning prizes in chess.
At the age of 18, he achieved the title of Grandmaster in the 2021 International Chess Tournament in Serbia, earning an Elo rating. He finished second in the tournament with 6.5 points. But more than the awards, the sport has taught life lessons to the teenage chess sensation as it prepares 'us for the next move in life." In an exclusive conversation with ETV Bharat, Gupta said that just like life, passion is a prerequisite for remaining in the game.
“It is necessary to have an interest in any sport. Because we can survive in that game only if we have passion. Be it sports or life there are ups and downs. One has to digest failure while eliminating mistakes and achieving success,” he said. Gupta believes that concentration in sports also benefited his studies as he did not neglect academics. He scored a promising 91 percent in class 10.
Therefore, Sankalp says that the focus while playing chess has also benefited in studies. “While playing chess, each move has to be played with a plan for the next several moves. So that strategy has benefited in real life,” he said. “Success turns into failure even if attention is diverted from the game while playing a move. So every time you have to decide a strategy and play a trick”.
Gupta is not content with the Grandmaster title and wants to excel in the sport to become a Super Grandmaster. Gupta believes that any game like chess teaches you a lot about being a citizen of society while building your personality in life.
