June 2: What better tonic to hasten an ailing sportsman on his road to recovery than a tournament victory?

Rahul Shetty, a chess player, was hit by the vicissitudes of life. On the verge of an International Masters title, Shetty reeled from one defeat after another in a six-month period last year. The most debilitating blow laid him low with typhoid. Hospitalised and bedridden for a month, dark clouds shrouded Shetty's chess aspirations. Eager to get back to competitive chess, Shetty participated in the Goodricke tournament in Calcutta early this year. But drained of strength he pulled out of the event after five rounds. The pull-out cost him 15 precious ELO points.

But it did not deter the 29-year-old Indian Airlines employee from attempting another comeback. He entered the Global Telesystem Open Rating chess tournament. An understandably indifferent performance marked his campaign but Shetty's gumption was soon to hold him in good stead.

A morale victory in the form of the Fischer Open Rapid tournament in Mumbai as well a few significant wins in the National Inter-Cities tournament provided Shetty a much-needed fillip.

It was soon to show. A triumph at Sangli in the SK Vaidya Memorial Open tournament could not have come at a more opportune moment. Shetty is now hopeful of gaining his IM title and doing well in the National B championships, to be held later this year in Kochi.

The Sangli tournament had a strong field with several IM's, including Ponnuswamy Konguvel, the runners-up in the National `A' championships.After nine rounds, Shetty had established a 1.5 point lead over the rest of the field, giving him the buffer which helped him in the later rounds. Needing just half a point in the last two rounds, Shetty lost to Konguvel but attained victory by drawing his last-round match with GB Prakash.Shetty reflects on the run-up to Sangli and the victories in the National Inter-Cities and the Fischer tourneys which meant a great deal in gaining confidence: ``When I won those important matches for Indian Airlines, I gained in confidence. Then came victory in the Rapid tournament in Mumbai and now this. After all the defeats last year and the illness, I am happy to be winning once again,'' Shetty explained.

For Shetty, the Sangli victory was not his best achievement. ``I had won the Tata Tournament in 1995 September in Jamshedpur where GM Dibyendu Barua and all the other IMs barring Pravin Thipsay participated. It was a really strong field,'' he said.

Shetty, whose current rating is 2335, hopes to gain about 22 ELO points from his victory at Sangli. But overall he may not have gained too much when the new rankings are released.

Shetty, who is almost a self-taught player, started playing the game very late by present standards.

Unlike precocious youngsters, who have achieved ratings at 16, he started playing seriously around that age. ``After I won the inter-collegiate tournament, I decided to play in an Open tournament where for the first time I met a player of National class Parag Varde. He taught me the nuances and pointed out my mistakes. After that I got into the theoretical aspects of the game,'' Shetty recalls.

He won the junior state title in 1986 and represented Maharashtra in the Junior National championships which was won by another talented youngster going by the name of Vishwanathan Anand.

He also played his first National B championhips around that time and having done well. He was a member of the Bombay team for the National Inter-Cities in 1990. Bombay, the champions, were represented by the likes of Pravin Thipsay, Sharad Tilak and Ravi Hegde en route to playing in the Asian Inter-Cities where they finished third.

Shetty was once ranked as high as 2400 on the ELO scale. Of course that was before he had earned any of his two norms. Shetty had completed two norms one of a 11-round Swiss League (in January 1995 in the Goodricke tournament) and the other from 13-round round-robin tournament in Bangladesh in November the same year. He is what is called as a conditional IM. When he achieves 2400 in the ELO scale, he will get his title.

For a player ranked so high, Shetty surprisingly does not have a computer. His pre-tournament preparations also suffers as he has to conform to regular hours of work unlike other sportspersons.

But despite this handicap, Rahul Shetty appears to be well and truly back, holding promise of becoming the newest member to the growing list of IMs and GMs that the country has been producing.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.