So after “below-expectation” finishes at the Asian junior championship in Mumbai in late December and the Commonwealth meet in hometown Delhi, Negi has started this year’s preparations in right earnest with a 9-day training stint with Belgian GM Vladimir Chuchelov.

Speaking to Sportline, the soon to be 15-year-old’s father JBS Negi says they made the decision to get Chuchelov so that Negi can get to the next level.

Talking about the stint himself, Negi junior says the idea was to focus on weaknesses, including the mental aspect of a match.

“He’s got some new ideas and we discussed how to cut down on the errors, work on time management,” he says.

Chuchelov, Belgium’s second highest rated player has a FIDE rating of 2551.

Negi will get to implement the tips in a week from now, as he heads to the Corus tournament. The January 11-27 elite event in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, has Negi as the fifth seed in Category C. Having finished fourth in the last edition, Negi hopes this time will be better. “I’m not going with any specific targets in terms of position. I think I have a good chance, and with a competitive field (includes 8 other GMs apart from him in the field of 14) that would be a great experience anyhow.”

Coming to his recent performances, Negi had managed a fourth place in Asian juniors in Mumbai this past December. The key was the penultimate game with Ashwin Jayaram, where Negi refused a draw offer, going on to lose the game. “I think I got into a time pressure situation there. He still had some threats left, and I somehow overlooked those,” he describes it now. “I lost six rating points, so it was obviously disappointing.”