Advik Agrawal, a young chess prodigy, earned back-to-back International Master norms at the Dole tournament and in Pune. He finished third at the Under-11 National Championship and trains at Chola Chess with coaches like GM Shardur Gagare, focusing on becoming a Grandmaster rather than chasing age records.
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So I'm joined with Advik Agrawal. Advik, how are you?
I am good, sir. How are you?
I am also good, and it's very nice to see you playing here. First of all, I want to congratulate for your last and final I Am Norm in Dole, which you did.
Yeah.
How was your experience playing in Dole?
Yeah, it was really good. It was a very strong tournament. Yeah, and I managed to play good.
And also just before that, you did one I Am Norm in this. पुणे जीएम राइट?
या इट फील्स रियली गुड टू लाइक स्कोर नॉर्म्स लाइक वन आफ्टर वन.
या वन आफ्टर वन.
एंड लाइक कैन यू इलेब्रेट मोर ऑन योर डोले परफॉर्मेंस situation from black, and I won, and I completed my norm.
Okay, that's amazing. And now you are playing in like Under 11 National. Like, the main question was why you decided to play this championship.
Yeah, I mean, I wanted to play because like it was my last year, and I wanted to come in top 3 or become the champion. And I came third. I wanted to become a champion, but okay, I mean, third is also fine. And yeah, I mean, I could have become an IM, like played Some more tournaments, but I thought okay, I could become an I am like after also. So it doesn't matter.
So you don't like this rating points matter to you a lot?
Not really.
Not really. And achieving the title, it might have given you a record of somewhere a record of achieving title at this age, this month. Does this means?
It means a little, but generally in I like want to become an I am and then in GM. Like it doesn't matter if I am second youngest, first youngest like that.
That's really nice mindset. And now I want to highlight of this tournament, like how did your tournament went?
I mean, yeah, first I was playing good. I was like four out of four. Then I drew a game against Kritik Muthukumar. I was completely winning there. But yeah, I later messed up and it ended in a draw. Then I made a comeback and won like three games. I think yeah, three games I won. Then I drew one against Sarbato. He like forced a draw in the opening and I couldn't do much. I was black. And then in the next round, I had a tough loss against Atvik Sven, where I was like, first I had an advantage, then it was like full draw, but I was very trying because I wanted a win, like, because I saw like the standings. But then in the last, I blundered and lost that game. So yeah, I was really upset after that game, but today I won and came in top 3.
Yeah, and I think coming in top 3 already gives you spots to playing in more tournaments.
Yeah.
Yeah, so will you be playing? And you also have played, uh, world events and Asian events before. So how is experience playing in that events?
Yeah, it's really good. I mean, you get to play international players which are like from other countries, Europe, Asia, and yeah, it's a very good experience.
And what do you think of like this tournament playing against one of like even Satvik and Sarbarto? Other players are also very strong, so You were playing against them. Were you prepared? Already prepared for them?
Yeah, I was prepared. But okay, I still checked like in this tournament what they were playing. But in general, I had prepared from there, from like for them before.
And you, you all three have this nice camaraderie and friendship between you. So playing against them becomes a little harder or or more easier?
It definitely becomes harder because I like generally don't want to play my friends because they are like my really good friends and. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't feel very good to play them, but yeah, okay, you have to play. Like, you cannot like abort or do something.
Yeah, true. And also, uh, I wanted to ask, do you often play like practice games a lot, and all of you 3 in your friendship?
No, not really.
Not really? Okay. And like, also, I wanted to ask you a little bit more about the last tough game. Somewhere you played this knight d5, and it looked like you were completely dominating that game. So, what was things— what were things going inside your head at that time?
Yeah, I mean, that's against the game, Satvik Sran. When I played knight d5, I thought I was better because I take, take, then I won the c6 knight and I was a clear pawn up. But then I think I took that b5 pawn after some rook c7, which was a mistake because then rook b7, rook b2 came and he got counterplay. Instead of that, if I played queen b6, rook takes e4, and knight e3, I would have clearly better because Knight d5 is coming. His b5, f5 pawns are very weak. I'm just dominating. Then later also I was better, like after Queen b5, but later I messed up and reached an equal endgame. But yeah, later I blundered because I like— I wanted to overtry a lot because actually Sarbato had won, and if I drew, then I like almost no chances of becoming the champion. So that's why I wanted to win that game very badly, but yeah, that backfired me and I lost.
Okay. But anyways, getting into top three and achieving like top three position and qualifying for the Asians and World events is nice.
Yeah.
And now I wanted to ask you like again after this event, what are you planning?
I am planning the Abu Dhabi Chess Festival.
Oh, it's few days later only, no?
Yeah.
Yeah. So are you well prepared for that?
Yeah, yeah.
Then I wish you the very best for Abu Dhabi.
And I also wanted to thank Chola Chess for their support and for their offline GM camps training. Like, yeah, I wanted to thank them a lot. They have supported me a lot.
Yeah, we have seen a lot of your videos of Chola Chess. Yeah, like, I believe it is a private camp where no cameras and like it's not public, but we have seen you playing against I.M. Suyog.
Yeah, yeah.
So what is your experience of that, like playing fun games and all?
Yeah, like I really like Cholakchas, like their camps, and also like in breaks we play games, which is— yeah, I feel like feel really good. Like the camp overall is very good, it's very fun and serious.
And do you follow all those videos which Suyog uploads?
Yeah, yeah, I saw them.
That's quite like very viral on Instagram, it has millions of views and So like you play blindfold, you were also playing blindfold bullet, so that's amazing. And now I wanted to ask you, apart from Chola Chess, how do you practice?
Oh, like at home?
Yeah, at home.
Yeah, I mean generally I solve a lot of puzzles and like play games and just see latest tournaments like what is happening and just study the games, analyze them, and लर्न लाइक व्हाट दे आर डूइंग लाइक टॉप प्लेयर्स लाइक अर्जुन मैग्नस हाउ दे प्ले या इन जनरल एंड आई आल्सो प्रिपेयर सम ओपनिंग्स एंड रिवाइज देम लाइक या एंड डू यू हैव एनी अदर कोचेस अपार्ट फ्रॉम छोला चेस या आई हैव जीएम शारदूर गगारे सर विच आई वर्क विथ हिम लाइक ड्यूरिं And in all the events, we see you with your father coming and joining in.
So is he also a chess player? Does he understand chess? Because when you are playing, all the games are quite intense. So what does he feel at that time?
I mean, generally he doesn't know much about chess, but yeah, like e4, e6, he knows that much. Like, because generally we say, no, like, I'm going to play e4. नाइट ऑफ़ थ्री लाइक दैट सो ही अंडरस्टैंड दैट मच या बट जनरली व्हेन आई एम प्लेइंग एंड इफ़ आई एम लाइक ऑन दिजिटी देन ही जनरली चेक्स लाइक विद द इंजन व्हाट इज़ हैप्पीनिंग इंजन फ्रॉम इंजन आई रिकॉल्ड वन थिंग दैट अबाउट एवलुएशन इन लॉट ऑफ़ गेम्स इन नेशनल्स व्हेन सम That is very common.
What I wanted to ask you, does that add a little bit of pressure? Because sometimes, like, even the other kids might not know what the exact evaluation is, but does their expression make little bit things more complicated?
Yeah, sometimes it feels like if someone is making some expressions, like they feel that I'm blundering, so I just check once, like, okay, are there something wrong, or they just draw some line and they're saying, yeah, like for a second it feels like, oh, did I, like, did I blunder, something like that. But yeah, when I check and know, okay, it's working, yeah, then not.
Okay. And also in like all the, like all the games, the camera was on you and even whatever you say it comes out to become a reel and all. So were you following that?
Yeah, I was.
What are your views on that? Do you enjoy that or does that like, uh, makes you feel like Okay, I should be more careful or just little bit fresh.
I definitely enjoy like getting popular on YouTube, social media, Instagram. It feels really good. But yeah, I don't focus much on that. Generally, I want to just focus on chess. But yeah, like my dad tells sometimes this video came. Okay, I just watch one time and yeah.
Yeah, that's amazing. And once again, thank you so much for joining. I wish you the very best for your upcoming. टूर्नामेंट एंड लाइक अपकमिंग चाइज़ जर्नी। थैंक यू सर।
