You are the company you keep.
Which is why, for people who knew her family, Ireland-based Trisha Kanyamarala’s ascent as a chess pro hardly came as a surprise.
Her parents — Dayanand Kanyamarala and Nandita Kanyamarala — are juniors’ officers at the Irish chess union in charge of overseeing the progress of U19 players.
However, it was Trisha’s brother — FIDE Master Tarun Kanyamarala — who inspired her to take up the game as an 8-year-old.
“I took a liking for chess after watching him play. We constantly practice at home, and our institution, Portlaoise College, helps too in every way possible,” said Trisha.
She competed in her first FIDE-rated tournament in 2014, and ended the year with a 1116 Elo rating.
Fast forward to the tail-end of January 2020, Trisha not only set a personal record of 2299 Elo. She also became Ireland’s first Woman International Master.
Her journey to the record-setting title had many highlights. But perhaps the brightest of them was her achievement of the third and final norm in The 2020 Irish New Year Norm Event.
In the tournament, she scored 6.5/9 in a field full of experienced masters… held Grandmaster Alexander Baburin to a draw… and shared first place to add 104.4 points to her rating.
Not too shabby for a 14-year-old!
But Trisha didn’t stop there.
She also got the silver medal at the 2021 European Youth Chess Championships (U16 girls) with a score of 5 wins, 4 draws, and zero losses.
Just a few weeks ago, Trisha competed at The 2022 Irish Women’s Chess Championship, and decimated the field. She scored a perfect 5/5 to clinch clear first place, while her knack for sharp, combative chess was on glorious display.
As a student of the Chessable X FIDE Academy, Trisha was most appreciative of “the opportunity to interact with the best trainers in the world” — including GM Evgeniy Najer who was her favorite instructor.
Congratulations on the astounding progress, Trisha, and we wish you all the best in your hunt for the Grandmaster title.
References:
- Irish Women’s Chess Championship 2022: https://chess-results.com/tnr647958.aspx?lan=1&art=4
- European Youth Championship, U16 Girls: https://chess-results.com/tnr582087.aspx?lan=1&art=4&turdet=YES&flag=30
- The Irish New Year Norm Event, tied first with GM Baburin: https://ratings.fide.com/report.phtml?event=230584&t=0
- Standard ratings report for February 2020: https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=45004722&period=2020-02-01&rating=0
