And the winner is, playing white, Kymaia Gadgil!
Kymaia has an arch-nemesis: Wilson. He is a bot with a 1200 points rating (for comparison, she is 1047) on chess.com and she has always lost to him, creating a sort of block in her mind about her ability to win. Her extremely dedicated teacher, Priyanka Ved, tried everything to unblock that, but to no avail.
I’d say in that respect, she’s gone on me: Once her mind’s made up, it takes a very long lever and a rather firm place to stand for anyone to move her. But she is also her mother’s daughter, and if there’s one thing her Mamma bear is, it is stubbornly perseverent.
So, while her tutor and we were discussing ways to get her to believe in herself (we even discussed showing her Kung Fu Panda: ‘To make something special, you just have to believe it is special’), she was quietly, without telling us, locking herself in her room, and playing Wilson. Again, and again, and again. And losing every single time.
Today, she said she didn’t want to go down and play, but stay in and practice the Turkish March (I am amazed how much she has started to love playing the piano since she started with Kushal D Bharatia). I heard the strains of her practice for some time. And then, quiet. I thought she must be napping and did not check.
About half-hour later, she came out with a wide smile on her face and said she needed to show me something. So, in we went, and there on her screen was Wilson playing black, down for the count with a Rook-Queen combination. Check and mate in 124 moves.
The game analysis was less charitable about the result (‘Wild – A chaotic game where both players had many chances to win.’) but when I saw the moves and told her that she seems to have missed many a chance, she looked at me with her big eyes and said, ‘But Baba bear, I won against Wilson!’ Yep, she has a point. She won. Fair and square. Without any external help. Credit where it is due.
We excitedly called her teacher, who was herself over the moon hearing this, and wrote to me that she was ‘…so so proud of her!!’
And now, the excitement has subsided and she has taken her Hula Hoop and gone downstairs to tell Aji about this new conquest. And to show her how she has learnt to twirl without letting the hoop fall. For about 3 seconds! But, you never know. Give her a day or two and she might even crack it. Who knows what this champ is up to next!
