CANADA HAS A NEW CHESS STAR - HIS NAME IS JANAK AWATRAMANI

In my last two posts I focused on the mommies and the daddies, who they were and what relationships they had with their children. Usually in any chess articles the focus is on winning and losing with a couple of chess position diagrams - chess reporting. However, I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to report on the parents behind the children to see if there was a common denominator.

Every investigation into a hypothesis has to be duplicatable in other environments for it to be considered valid. I found one such case in TEAM CANADA.

The case inpoint is Janak Awatramani and his father Daddy Awatramani. I met them like everyone else, at the Mazatlan International Airport and within 24-hours I noticied a beautiful bond between father and son.Daddy Awatramani and I had held several conversations, all of which were fruitful. I realized he and I had the same relationship with our children. We both coached our kids, we both fed our children that same "can-do" mentality, but over all, we not only coached our kids but we studied with them. Last but not least, neither he nor I were stressed by our children's participation in the tournament. We both realized that the worth of a child is not what place he came in but who he was outside the chessboard.

Daddy Awatramani could have been my twin brother in Canada.

After each round, I would watch him as he waited for his son. There was a special camaraderie between them. Daddy Awatramani was a very pleasant person with all and a perfect ambassador for Canada. He held a lengthy conversation with Mrs. Rosa Pereya, the mother of one of Mexico's rising stars in the U-14, WCM Diana Real. Mrs. Rosa works at a university in Yucatan. She asked him numerous questions about his country and culture, which he graciously answered.

As the rounds continued Janak kept winning.

There was no pressure, there was no animosity, there was no questioning of why he did not win sooner rather than later - there was simply support and a parental bond. Before anyone noticed it, Janak was fighting for the gold medal.I was watching from the restaurant below the tournament hall as the players were finishing their games. I caught a glimpse as Janak and his father were walking together after his son had drawn the last game of the tournament.
Daddy Awatramami was hugging Canada's newest rising star in the U-10. His son was now CANDIDATE MASTER Janak Awatramani.
I truly hope one day I will get to see both Janak and his father again in some tournament around the world. By then, I will expect him to be FM Janak Awatramani - pride and joy of Canada.