Young boy in Chennai wins accolades in chess & studies

Chennai: Even a multitasker would find it difficult to juggle three to four responsiblities together.

But Ragav Rajesh, residing at Madipakkam in the city, is a 12-year-old, is a ‘Sakalakala vallavan’ to say the least.

A district-level chess champion and a budding Carnatic Singer, Ragav also excels in academics. He is a class topper. ‘News Today’ had a chat with the young lad.

When asked about the grandmaster that potentially is inside him, Ragav said,”I started learning the basics in Chess at the age of five from coach Saravanakumar at a private institute in Velacheri. I won many inter-school tournaments and district-level events as well. Having realised my zeal in Chess, my master then enrolled me to classes run by master Ravichandran. Currently, he is my guru.”

After topping district-level events, Ragav got the oppurtunity to show his skills at zonal and State-level events.

He said,”In 2015 at a zonal tournament held at Hyderabad, I bagged the gold medal. Also, I secured bronze at a national chess event held at Kolkata the same year. Besides these, I have won over 30 awards in inter-school events,” he added.

Uthra Rajesh, his mother said, Ragav always lays down his schedule for the day. “From 5.30 am to 7 am, he will do Sathagams along with Yoga and then he glances over the lessons taught to him at school. After attending school he takes two hours practising chess,” she said.

When asked about the singer inside young Ragav, Uthra said,”Singing is his another passion, apart from chess. He started learning Carnatic music from guru Vasanthi Gopal, when he was four. Soon he began to take part in contests and also performed at temples and sabhas present in and around the area.”

“We never went against our child’s dreams and we do not intend to in the future. His future goal is to reach heights in catering and management sector. We are fine with his plan. His primary goal at the moment is to increase his international rank to 2,000 in chess before completing his schooling. He is working towards that,” said Ragav’s parents. His father Rajesh sampath can be reached at 99410 07786.