NEW DELHI: Imagine it is your first international chess tournament on your own. Your parents have burned a hole in their pockets to take you to the scenic country of Uzbekistan. There, you are supposed to play the toughest of opponents from across the globe. You reach the venue, and you sit at the playing table. But as soon as the game starts, your vision gets hazy, with the 64 squares in front of you hardly visible. Daunting overall, isn’t it?Subhi Gupta, who became Girls’ World No. 4 and India No. 1 earlier this month, was only 15 when she had to go through a similar experience last year in March. It is difficult to fathom what she must’ve felt at that moment.“That was her first personal international tournament outside India. Earlier, she had travelled to Sri Lanka, Georgia, and other countries, but those trips were because she had qualified for official events such as World Championships. Uzbekistan was her first independent international tournament,” Subhi’s father Pradeep told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive conversation.“She could barely see the board properly because we accidentally got the wrong eye drops. The medical store gave us a 1% solution instead of 0.1%; it was 100 times stronger than what we normally used. It completely affected her eyesight, making everything blurred for seven to eight days. As a result, her entire first tournament in Uzbekistan in March was ruined because she simply could not see the board clearly.”Only last month, the same Subhi Gupta went on to play in Germany, competed in two strong IM tournaments there and gained an impressive 184 rating points to climb 37 places to become World No. 4 in FIDE’s Girls’ rating list, which only consists of female players aged 20 and younger.While her rise may seem rapid, it surely has not been one without hiccups.
A school hobby soon becomes lockdown grind
Subhi, now 16, was introduced to chess at the age of eight as a simple hobby class at her school’s chess club. After securing a third-place finish in an inter-school competition, her interest grew, prompting her father to enrol her in a weekend academy.In 2019, barely six months into serious play, she participated in her first major event, the Under-9 National Championship in Ahmedabad. She finished an impressive 10th, opening her initial FIDE rating at 1070.Then, the pandemic hit. For most children, lockdown meant screen addiction, but for this Ghaziabad-based wizkid, chess became her only friend in isolation. In 2020, with her rating still sitting at a modest 1095, her family reached out to Delhi-based coach Prasenjit Dutta.“She was completely immersed in chess all the time,” Dutta told this website, recalling those old days with a smile. “Whatever study material I gave her, she immediately worked on it. Her fundamentals were missing initially, so we worked incredibly hard on those. I was simply waiting for God’s timing, thinking, ‘When will the lockdown end? When will over-the-board tournaments return?'”
Subhi Gupta with Prasenjit Dutta (on the right) and Bharat Singh Chauhan (on the left) (Special Arrangements)
During the lockdown, Subhi dominated the online circuit, winning gold in the National School Under-11 Championship, bronze in the 2021 National Under-14, and individual and team golds at the Western Asian Under-12 Championship.Because she was a new face tearing through online tournaments, whispers and speculation about fair play arose from sceptics. Dutta, however, knew it was pure hard work.
Bringing glory to Ghaziabad
When over-the-board tournaments returned in 2022, Subhi silenced any remaining doubters. She won the National Amateur Championship (under-2000 category) and followed it up with a gold medal at the National Under-12 Championship in Mandya, near Bangalore.Indian chess infrastructure and prodigies have traditionally been concentrated in the South. By bringing the national trophy to Ghaziabad, Subhi marked a rare breakthrough for North India, and especially Uttar Pradesh, in junior chess.“This was the first time a national title came back to North India,” Pradeep recounted. “It was a huge achievement that boosted everyone’s morale.”The national title qualified her for the World Cadet Championship 2022 in Batumi, Georgia. There, representing India against players from over 70 countries, Subhi clinched the gold medal to become World Champion.
Subhi Gupta on the wall of Prasenjit Dutta’s academy (Special Arrangements)
“My dream was always to have a student become a World Champion,” Dutta said. “I stayed awake through entire nights watching her games live. Her moves were coming with around 98–99% accuracy. The top engine recommendation, that’s what she played. For a player at that age to play with virtually no mistakes indicated a huge leap in strength.”
Confidence of the confidants
There is no denying that chess at the elite level is an expensive proposition. Father Pradeep works in IT to fund the journey. Subhi’s mother, Urmila, who initially did not know a single rule of the game, has gradually transformed herself into her daughter’s full-time training partner, analyst, and travel companion.With Subhi’s elder brother completing his final year of engineering, the family sees playing chess as a bonding activity. If anyone is free, they prefer moving a piece or two over the board. Subhi and her mother, however, spend nearly 80% of their time away from home travelling for events.
Subhi Gupta with her mother Urmila (Special Arrangements)
Sponsors have come forward to support Subhi’s talent, easing a portion of the financial burden off the family’s shoulders. This backing has allowed the teenager to train under top-tier Grandmasters, including GM Swapnil Dhopade and GM Srinath Narayanan.“They had great confidence in her,” Pradeep noted. “Srinath Sir was especially eager to push her to play international open tournaments abroad because domestic opportunities can become limited at her level.”
The art of reset
Late last year, the 16-year-old faced a severe mental roadblock at the National Women’s Championship in Gurgaon. She had played brilliantly and led the field until the final stretch, before the pressure caught up with her.She lost the final two rounds and dropped to a heartbreaking fourth-place finish. She secured a Rs 3.5 lakh prize money, but it offered no comfort; the missed national title sent her into a depressing state.“When things went wrong at the end, everyone was upset,” Pradeep admitted. “But we were growing as parents too. We used to scold her badly after losses, but we learned to handle it better. We told her this time, ‘It’s just one game. It’s not the last tournament.'”Nevertheless, the maturity shown by Subhi in her battle against that mental blockage was commendable.She detached from chess completely, turning to Mandala art, sketching, and movies. The mental break worked. Just days later, she travelled to Jodhpur for the National Under-19 Championship and won the title, completely erasing the ghost of Gurgaon.Off the board, Subhi displayed the same clinical focus in her academics, deftly balancing late-night tournament preparation with the intense pressure of clearing her Class 10 board exams. “She prepared mostly through YouTube, speaking with teachers, and self-study. In just one and a half months of preparation, she scored 96%,” her father revealed.
A new beginning
After returning to Uzbekistan this March this year to cleanly secure her third Woman International Master (WIM) norm, Subhi and her mother travelled to Munich, Germany, in May.In two back-to-back, gruelling international tournaments, Subhi achieved a phenomenal double in a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) norm in the first event, followed immediately by a full International Master (IM) norm in the second.ALSO READ: R Praggnanandhaa Exclusive Interview: ‘Winning ahead of Magnus Carlsen is something I’ve always wanted’The performance vaulted her to India’s No. 1 spot in the girls’ division. Remarkably, despite having all requirements fully checked off, the family has chosen not to officially claim the lower WIM title.“We didn’t claim the WIM title,” Pradeep revealed. “Her dream is not to stop here. She is aiming directly for the WGM, the IM, and ultimately, the absolute Grandmaster (GM) title. Her determination to excel at the highest world level is incredibly high right now.”