Bengaluru: Karthik Venkataraman had a stranger walk up to him and ask him about his chess for the first time last August. He had just landed at the Chennai airport from Baku when a man walked up and asked, “Aren’t you the guy who played Hikaru?” The Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu was returning home after playing the world No 2 and streaming superstar Hikaru Nakamura at the World Cup. “Something like that had never happened to me before,” he laughs.

In a testament to being stronger than his rating suggests (then 2565), he put up a tenacious fight and held Nakamura, rated at least 200 Elo above him, to draws in both their classical games.

This week, the 24-year-old Indian booked his spot in the World Cup (2025) for the second consecutive time after winning the National Championship for the second time. The Nationals this year were missing the big names and Surya Sekhar Ganguly – a six-time champion – was the top seed and in the sole lead going into the final round. In 2022, Arjun Erigaisi, now ranked fourth in the world, won the title, ahead of current World Championship challenger, D Gukesh.

For Karthik, the title arrived as a godsend in a year he’s been struggling with results. “I’ve had a bad year and was pretty low on confidence. With Surya doing well I didn’t expect myself to win the tournament.”

Rated 2568, and ranked outside the top 200, lack of consistency has been a nagging problem for Karthik.

“On my good days I can play at a very strong level but consistency has been an issue. I have been stagnant at various points – for a couple of years at 2300, and after I became GM, I had a bad year. And then COVID happened. So, I was stuck at the same place for four years. I decided to change my approach because I realised doing the same things wasn’t working for me. I was earlier adamant about not solving puzzles because I felt it would spoil my intuitive skills. But then I started going on to Killer Chess Training run by one of the best trainers Jacob Aagard, and solving homework sheets every week. It was really helpful. Another thing I changed was playing tournaments continuously. Earlier I would do it thinking others are doing it and succeeding so why can’t I? I ditched that mentality and started taking breaks between tournaments. This suits me better.”

He’s also taken a few mentality lessons from his encounter against Nakamura.

“The World Cup is so much about having control over your mind, nerves and emotions. It’s bigger than the chess part. In the rapid tiebreak, Hikaru was getting up and walking around when I was thinking. I found it annoying. Usually, you’d assume people not to do that in rapid games because there’s less time. In the second game, I decided to try to do the same but it didn’t really help,” he laughs. “In the first rapid game, he was clearly better but I defended well and I think he was tilted by that.”

In his YouTube recap, Hikaru likened Karthik’s defense to that of a 2700 plus player. Their first rapid tiebreak game ended in a draw and Karthik declined a three-fold repetition in the second game and went on to lose with White. “It was evident that he was perhaps affected by not having won the first rapid game. He played the first few moves of the second game badly, at least for his level. I understood he was tilted by that point, but I just wanted to let them know that I was not scared of him.”

Karthik turned GM in 2018, the same year as R Praggnanandhaa and months ahead of Gukesh. The prodigious teens have since rocketed in their growth and are ranked inside the top 12. “Honestly, two years ago, I was slightly jealous of their quick rise. At this point, it’s pure admiration. It’s inspiring to see how well they’re faring. It’s also a bit frustrating. I’m not sure how to process it or put it into words. A part of me perhaps feels I should have worked as hard as them.”

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