His life revolves around a board with black and white squares, a game filled with knights and pawns, kings and queens. For this man, chess is a stepping stone to an intelligent future. “Memory and brain games train our thinking and chess could spell a good career for a bright child if he is trained properly right from his young age. Allow me to train your brain and polish your thinking process,” says this master player of chess, who has spent 25 years of his life with this mind game after he was introduced to it at the age of 22. Today, at 47, Sanjay Kavlekar boasts of coaching hundreds of kids in chess and defeating almost every player in Goa at one point or the other in the past two decades.
Training young minds to concentrate on the task-in-hand and also to think logically and act fast while taking spontaneous decisions, Kavlekar points out to a chubby smart boy of six playing chess alone. “Look at my little student, Sairaj Vernekar. Chess has made him confident and sharp. A state champion in under-7 category, Sairaj has been practicing meticulously for two hours daily for the past two years.” After hearing words of appreciation from his teacher, Sairaj smiles sheepishly. Ask him why he plays chess and pat comes his bold reply, “I like to win.”
Sairaj is one among the many disciples of Kavlekar who has coached noted players like Neeraj Saripalli, Nandini Saripalli, Ritviz Parab, Amey Avadhi, Kapil Pavse, Rishabh Naik, Aditi Prabhugaonkar, Charudatta Desai among others. Praising the dedication of Anurag Mhamal, Bhakti Kulkarni and Ivana Furtado, Kavlekar feels proud that Goa is taking chess seriously.
Advocating that parents must encourage their children to embrace at least one sport, indoor or outdoor, as it develops concentration and helps them to be attentive, Kavlekar is happy that parents now send their young kids to him to get trained from age five and above. Sports in itself can be a good career, also it helps in studies, especially maths and logic calculations as well as science.
One has to learn to concentrate and sit at one place for hours not feeling uneasy just like in meditation. Today’s children are restless and hyperactive. They tend to lose focus soon. Chess is a game that teaches one to focus on every move. Take losing sportingly, advises this coach who feels that one does not need extra tuitions for maths or logic if he or she knows to play chess well as it is full of calculations.
“Every move is important and taking it enhances your decision making power as it helps you understand your own psychology and guess the possible moves of your opponent. It’s like a political game and understanding the thought process of others helps in life,” advocates Kavlekar who is a coach from 2001 and has trained hundreds of kids, some of whom are players.
A chess coach who has done FIDE instructor course, is FIDE arbiter and approved referee at Sports Authority of Goa and a FIDE rated chess player, Kavlekar is the only one in Goa to have all three accreditations. Dedicating his life to chess, he begins training at 6.30 am and continues through the day till 8.30 pm without getting bored even for a second. Saturday-Sunday keeps him busy with chess tournaments.
“This game has no age limit. Chess has given me name, fame and financial security,” says this devoted master mind who loves travelling across various talukas in Goa for training the rural kids. Titled as the best coach of the year in 2007, 2011 and 2014, Kavlekar was felicitated by Lions Club of Ravonfond, Quepem Taluka Chess Association and Krida Prabodhini, Porvorim.
