NEW DELHI: The exact date was March 11, 2011, when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and subsequent tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three reactor cores melted down, resulting in the largest release of radioactive material since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. At the time, Linda Fernandes was pregnant with Ethan Vaz.“She was pregnant with Ethan at that time in Tokyo itself when that crisis happened,” Edwin Vaz, Ethan’s father, told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive interaction from Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both Edwin and Linda worked as software professionals in Japan. However, after the disaster, their lives changed forever.“Since she was pregnant, we felt there was a health risk. So I brought her to Goa. I went back to Japan to reassess the situation for a few months before finally deciding to come back,” Edwin added.Ethan was born later that year on September 3, 2011.On Saturday, competing in the “Sarajevo Chess Summer – GM Mix” tournament, Ethan secured his third and final GM norm, becoming India’s 96th Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 14.
A long-awaited realization
Less than 24 hours have passed since Ethan found his place among India’s chess elite. For Edwin, the reality of his son’s enormous achievement still swirls in the blur of celebratory messages.“It didn’t really sink in because from the moment he hit the norm, we were frantically trying to answer calls, answer texts,” Edwin said. “We still haven’t been able to have time for ourselves to really get a sense of what actually happened.”The family knew that the final step would require enormous patience. Once a player crosses the 2500 Elo mark, hunting down grandmaster norms becomes a uniquely difficult task.“We’ve been preparing for the long haul,” Edwin explained. “People try to win a grandmaster sometimes for decades and still can’t do it. There’s never a set path or a set time frame. Once you get past 2,500, it becomes difficult to get a lot of norms. If he goes to an open tournament like this, he’s the top seed… and then he has to play with a lower rating, because it’s a lot easier to get norms when you have a lower rating.”
Ethan, however, handled the turning point with the quiet, understated demeanor typical of an experienced chess player. When local reporters in Goa sought Ethan’s reaction to becoming India’s newest GM and the country’s third GM, the 14-year-old, currently rated 2522, was curt.– I asked him what he would like to say – Edwin recalled with a laugh. “He said, ‘It’s been my goal since I started playing chess and I’m glad to have achieved the title of grandmaster’.” When Edwin prompted his son to explain, Ethan added just one more sentence, “I will continue to work on my game and try to achieve my dream of becoming a world champion.”“Those were his two precious sentences. That’s it,” Edwin said, laughing. “I don’t think chess players talk much. They play at the board. Everything is said behind the board with the mouth closed.”Ethan, currently in 10th standard, was originally supposed to represent India at the FIDE World Youth Chess Championship in Italy.However, a sudden visa delay threatened to derail his plans. Refusing to let the disappointment settle, his parents quickly arranged an alternative trip to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, a hub that paid off spectacularly when Ethan went undefeated with 7 points from 9 rounds to win the tournament to claim the final title.
When chess replaced cartoons
Ethan was only six and a half years old. Back then, television screens were a great distraction for children. “Ethan and his older brother Edrick, who was actually born in Japan … both became addicted to cartoons,” Edwin recalled. “We thought it might be better to give them some intellectual activity instead of being in front of the TV.”They enrolled the brothers in a chess academy near their home in South Goa, where coach Prakash Vikram Singh taught.“Back then, we had no idea that chess is actually a sport that takes you in this direction. We didn’t know there were tournaments; “We didn’t know you could just play state, state and stuff like that,” Edwin added.Just three months into his training, the academy management suggested Ethan’s entry to the under-7 tournament in North Goa. Edwin was not willing to sacrifice three days of work and school for a new hobby.
“I wasn’t ready to give three days because that’s never been our preference,” Edwin admitted.But they left. Ethan placed fifth, narrowly missing the automatic top two selection for the national championship.On the advice of his coach, the family funded a donor entry to show at Nationals. Ethan, who has so far trained under Singh, GM Swayams Mishra, GM Srinath Narayanan and benefited from various training programmes, including those conducted by GM RB Ramesh, surprised everyone by finishing in the top 20.“That’s where we first realized there was potential,” Edwin said. “From the reluctance to give three days to the tournament in Goa, we ended up putting everything on the sidelines, including our startup, and finally going full steam ahead with his chess career. It was an unthinkable journey, but a sweet and rewarding one nonetheless.”
The price of sleep
The pursuit of chess excellence quickly changed the family’s lifestyle. Edwin and Linda started a self-financing IT services company after returning to Goa. However, as Ethan’s career accelerated, their professional ambitions had to be balanced with the demands of global travel.The financial weight of a professional chess career also brought constant anxiety.
“We were worried about finances,” admitted Edwin. “We saved quite a bit of corpus because, of course, our pension fund and back-up plan in case our venture failed when we came from Japan. When we realized that we were using all those savings for Ethan, his career, there was a little worry about what the future would hold.”“Chess is basically like all costs and no revenue,” he added. “Even if you win the tournament, you’ve actually spent more just going to the tournament than the prize money actually is.”Fortunately, recent support from Indian donors and sponsors has made the journey seem manageable, helping the family move towards financial stability.
Out of system
Acknowledging Goa Chess Association and All India Chess Federation (AICF) for providing the initial competitive platform, Edwin differentiates between basic infrastructure and elite professional development.“The chess infrastructure exists because the AICF exists and there are state associations,” noted Edwin. “The state association organizes those tournaments where we are exposed. Ethan has won thirty international medals for the state and this is possible thanks to the state association, AICF and Sports Authority of Goa. This infrastructure was very important, especially in the early years.““But the professional path, where a player aspires to become a professional, is more of a personal struggle,” explained Edwin.The road to one of the world’s elite grandmasters is still long. But there’s no doubt in dad’s mind about the road ahead, as he said: “I think we’ll continue to pursue this career path because that’s where his passion lies.”
