AMONG BEST IN WORLD
Chess phenom ranked 12th
Already tops in Canada in his age group and still barely out of elementary school, Rohan Talukdar is a national chess master and has begun climbing the international ranks.
After two major competitions this summer, the 14-year-old Windsor youth is ranked 12th in the world in his age group.
Talukdar placed first at the 2017 Canadian Youth Chess Championships in Sault Ste. Marie in July and finished 12th at September’s World Youth Chess Championship 2017 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The young champ, who is also ranked a national master in Canada and the United States by the countries’ respective chess federations, said he finds chess calming.
“I find chess relaxing,” Talukdar said. “I like to play.” And he plays a lot. Talukdar devotes four hours a day to practice using computer books, software and videos. He connects via Skype with two of his coaches.
The Grade 9 Massey secondary school student first learned the game from his mother, Mayuri Talukdar, against whom he still plays.
His proud parents, including dad Mridushyam, happily show visitors his many trophies and certificates, including awards for top marks in mathematics from Central public school, displayed in their South Windsor home.
“Because there’s lots of calculations in chess, you have to calculate everything before you make the move,” Talukdar said. “It’s just like how in math you have to do all the calculations.”
The Canadian Youth Chess Championship was a four-day competition. Talukdar won five of his seven rounds and drew, or tied, two.
In 10 days of play in Uruguay in South America, he faced players from different countries over 11 rounds. He lost two, drew four and won five to achieve his ranking and a global chess rating of 2265. The top player has a 2800 rating.
“My goal is to get 2500 because at 2500 you’re a grandmaster,” Talukdar said.
Grandmaster is the highest rank for a chess player. After that, players work to improve their rating number.
“I like chess because you have to think about strategies, different plans,” he said. “To beat your opponent, you have to think about so many (things). If you make one bad move, you can lose easily.”