Personal tragedy and an eye infection notwithstanding, India's latest Grandmaster, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, is hoping for a gold medal in the Under-20 World chess championship, which begins in Azerbaijan on June 21.
Ganguly, who won a bronze medal in the previous edition of the championship in Goa last December, however, admits the going will be tough.
"The players who take part in tournaments at such levels are generally very energetic. They have very good reflexs and stamina," he said.
Ganguly will leave Kolkata for Delhi on Thursday, and take a flight for Azerbaijan on Friday. The championship will be inaugurated on Saturday, while the opening round will be played on Sunday.
The promising youngster is still in the dark about his probable rivals.
"I don't know who will be my competitors. I'll know the names when I reach Azerbaijan," he said.
Having become India's eighth Grandmaster after a draw against Josef Dorfman in the Chess Olympiad at Bled, Slovenia, last November, Ganguly has been training hard to improve his showing in the coming tournament.
"I regularly practice with Sandipan Chanda," he said.
Former World champion Vishwanathan Anand has also been helping the young man fine-tune his skills.
"I regularly interact with him via the Internet. He gives me problems, which I solve. Some time we discuss various finer points of the game. If I face some difficulty with my game, then also I discuss the matter with him," Ganguly said, adding Anand also conveyed his best wishes for the meet.
However, the death of Ganguly's maternal grandfather, who introduced him to the game, hindered his preparations.
"I was so shocked and dazed that I couldn't concentrate on my practice for weeks," he said.
Infection in Ganguly's right eye too has affected his preparations since Sunday.
"Maybe, dust or something else entered the eye at night and as I rubbed the eye, the infection got worse. The matter further aggravated after I wore my contact lens the next morning," Ganguly, his eye heavily bandaged, said.
"I'm not being able to practice properly with one eye. I hope the doctor removes the bandage tomorrow," he said.
Ganguly, who now has a FIDE rating of 2542, hopes to reach the 2600 mark by December.
"I'm quite hopeful of reaching my target by the year-end," he said, sounding confident.
