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Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Aditi Soondarsingh CHAMPION CHESS PLAYER

by

20121020

She is the sev­en-time and cur­rent women's na­tion­al chess cham­pi­on, hav­ing won her first ti­tle at the age of 14. The charm­ing and out­go­ing 24-year-old Adi­ti Soon­dars­ingh from Barataria is a force to be reck­oned with in the world of chess. She re­cent­ly out­ma­neu­vered Iraq's Women In­ter­na­tion­al Mas­ter (WIM) Iman Al-Ru­faye at the World Chess Olympiad in Is­tan­bul, Turkey, be­com­ing the first T&T fe­male chess play­er to de­feat a WIM in an in­ter­na­tion­al tour­na­ment.

She comes from a fam­i­ly of chess play­ers-her younger broth­er Dev is a na­tion­al fi­nal­ist, while her fa­ther Bhisham is a past pres­i­dent of the T&T Chess As­so­ci­a­tion. Af­ter com­plet­ing her CXC O'Lev­els she was of­fered a schol­ar­ship to UTT to study me­chan­i­cal en­gi­neer­ing and con­tin­ue train­ing in chess un­der Cuban coach Raul. She has rep­re­sent­ed T&T as the top play­er at four World Chess Olympiads which were held in Mal­lor­ca, Spain in 2004; Dres­den, Ger­many in 2008; Siberia, Rus­sia in 2010 and Is­tan­bul, Turkey last month. She was forced to de­cline com­pet­ing in Turin, Italy in 2006 due to ex­ams.

As a cham­pi­on youth play­er she was se­lect­ed for the World Youth Cham­pi­onship in France and oth­er tour­na­ments in El Sal­vador, Bar­ba­dos, Venezuela and In­dia for the Com­mon­wealth Games. She is cur­rent­ly prepar­ing to de­fend her ti­tle as fe­male na­tion­al chess cham­pi­on this month.

Q: Tell us about your in­spi­ra­tion to 'play chess'...What would you say and what ad­vice would you give to any­one con­tem­plat­ing pick­ing up such a sport?

A: My in­spi­ra­tion came from help­ing my fa­ther set up for tour­na­ments when he was the pres­i­dent of T&T Chess As­so­ci­a­tion and al­so while at­tend­ing Pal­adins Chess Club on Sat­ur­days. The ad­vice I will give to any­one pick­ing up the sport is that chess is life. And I al­ways ad­vise any­one to play chess be­cause it helps in so many things like con­cen­tra­tion for long pe­ri­ods, analysing skills, crit­i­cal think­ing, be­ing fo­cused etc.

When, where and against who did you first rep­re­sent T&T in chess?

That was at the World Chess Olympiad in Mal­lor­ca, Spain in 2004.

Who were the peo­ple who have in­flu­enced you the most (both in­side and out­side of your im­me­di­ate fam­i­ly) in your chess ca­reer and in life in gen­er­al, and how did they?

The per­son who in­flu­enced me most in chess is my fa­ther who is a very good chess play­er, coach and ad­min­is­tra­tor. He taught all his four chil­dren (two boys, two girls) chess, but I ini­tial­ly took the most lik­ing to it. Al­so, An­drew Bowles who al­ways en­cour­ages me and lends sup­port at all times. The per­son who in­flu­enced 3me most out­side of chess is my mom who set good ex­am­ples and is al­ways there for me which con­tributed to my suc­cess, and my close friends who have been sup­port­ive all along.

Who was your hero or idol grow­ing up (fic­tion­al or re­al or both, both chess and non-chess) and why? And who do you ad­mire most to­day?

My chess hero while grow­ing up is Mikhail Tal whose at­tack­ing and ag­gres­sive style is sim­i­lar to my own style of play. Tal was a Russ­ian Grand­mas­ter and the 8th World Chess Cham­pi­on. My non-chess hero is Ma­hat­ma Gand­hi who won wars with­out vi­o­lence, sim­i­lar to chess where war is en­joy­able.

What is your most mem­o­rable chess per­for­mance?

The most mem­o­rable is be­ing the first Trinida­di­an-To­bag­on­ian to have de­feat­ed a woman In­ter­na­tion­al Mas­ter (WIM) Iman Al-Ru­faye from Iraq at the World Chess Olympiad in Is­tan­bul, Turkey re­cent­ly.

What is your great­est ac­com­plish­ment in chess?

Hav­ing been the fe­male na­tion­al chess cham­pi­on on a record sev­en oc­ca­sions. Win­ning it for the first time at the age of 14, hav­ing been in com­pet­i­tive chess for just one year.

When and how did you get in­to play­ing chess?

I start­ed play­ing chess for fun at home with my fa­ther and broth­ers at around the age of 11.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Wood­brook.

At what schools/in­sti­tu­tions did you re­ceive/are you re­ceiv­ing your ed­u­ca­tion?

New­town Girls' RC, St James Gov­ern­ment Sec­ondary, and the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T.

What ad­vice would you give to the young peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go?

Love con­quers all, re­spect your par­ents, teach­ers and adults, and knowl­edge is the key to suc­cess.

What dai­ly mot­to/cre­do do you live by...and in three words, your recipe for suc­cess?

No moun­tain high enough.?Live, love, learn.

Who are your favourite sport­ing per­son­al­i­ties out­side of chess?

The great Bri­an Lara.

Any oth­er sports per­sons in your fam­i­ly?

My broth­ers Rudra and Dev at crick­et and foot­ball, but Dev is al­so a very good chess play­er and is in the na­tion­al fi­nals this year.

Of all your ac­co­lades, prizes and awards which do you rate as ex­treme­ly spe­cial?

Be­ing a nom­i­nee for the First Cit­i­zens Sports Foun­da­tion sports per­son­al­i­ty of the year. I have been nom­i­nat­ed on five oc­ca­sions for chess.

What goals and or am­bi­tions do you have as a young per­son?

To com­plete my de­gree in me­chan­i­cal en­gi­neer­ing and one day own my own busi­ness.

What is your favourite pas­time/hob­by out­side of chess?

Swim­ming, hang­ing out with my sis­ter and our friends and, of course, shop­ping (laugh­ing out loud).

Where do you see your­self in five years in chess and in life in gen­er­al. In chess...to achieve the ti­tle of In­ter­na­tion­al Mas­ter and in gen­er­al, hav­ing my own busi­ness.


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