NEW DELHI: The exact date was March 11, 2011, when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and the 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 were working as software professionals in Japan. However, following the disaster, their lives changed forever.“Because she was pregnant, we felt there was a health risk. So I brought them to Goa. I returned 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, while competing at the “Chess Summer in Sarajevo – 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 realisation
It has not been 24 hours since Ethan found a place among India’s chess elite. For Edwin, the reality of his son’s massive achievement is still swirling in a blur of celebratory messages.“It has actually not sunk in because from the moment he achieved the norm, we have been frantically trying to answer calls, reply to messages,” Edwin shared. “We still haven’t been able to have time for ourselves to really feel the feeling of what has actually happened.”The family knew the final step would require immense patience. Once a player crosses the 2500 Elo mark, hunting for Grandmaster norms becomes a uniquely difficult task.“We have been bracing for the long haul,” Edwin explained. “People try for a Grandmaster title for decades sometimes and still cannot make it. There is never a set path or a set timeline. Once you cross 2500, it becomes difficult to get many norms. If he goes for open tournaments like this, he is the top seed… and then he has to play the lower ratings, because it’s much easier to get norms when you are lower-rated.”
Ethan, however, processed the milestone with the quiet, understated demeanour, which is typical of a seasoned chess player. When local reporters in Goa sought Ethan’s reaction to becoming India’s latest and the state’s third GM, the 14-year-old, currently rated 2522, kept it brief.“I asked him what he would like to say,” Edwin recalled with a laugh. “He said, ‘It has been my goal since the time I started playing chess, and I am glad to have achieved the Grandmaster title.'” When Edwin urged his son to elaborate, Ethan added just one more sentence, “I will continue to work on my game and try to achieve my dream of becoming the World Champion.”“These were his two precious sentences. That’s it,” Edwin said, laughing. “I think chess players, they don’t talk much. They play on the board. All the talking is done on the board with mouth shut.”Ethan, currently in the 10th standard, was originally scheduled 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 organised an alternative itinerary to Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, a pivot that paid off spectacularly when Ethan went unbeaten with 7 points out of 9 rounds to claim the tournament victory alongside his final title requirement.
When chess replaced cartoons
Ethan was just six and a half years old. At the time, television screens posed a major distraction for the children. “Ethan and his elder brother Edrick, who was actually born in Japan… both of them were getting addicted to cartoons,” Edwin recalled. “We thought maybe it’s better to give them some intellectual activity to do instead of being in front of the TV.”They enrolled the brothers into a chess academy near their home in South Goa, where coach Prakash Vikram Singh was teaching.“That time we had absolutely no idea that chess is actually a sport that gets you in this direction. We didn’t know that there were tournaments; we didn’t know that you can just play country, state, and stuff like that,” Edwin added.Just three months into his training, the academy management suggested entering Ethan into an under-7 tournament in North Goa. Edwin was highly reluctant to sacrifice three days of work and school for a new hobby.
“I was not ready to give three days because that had never been our inclination,” Edwin admitted.But they went. 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 give him exposure at the 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 realised that he has the potential,” Edwin said. “From being reluctant to give three days to a tournament in Goa, we ended up putting everything on the sidelines, including our startup on the back burner, and going full swing with his chess career eventually. It has been a journey that has been unthought of, but nevertheless sweet and rewarding.”
The cost of a dream
Chasing chess excellence quickly transformed the family’s lifestyle. Edwin and Linda had founded a self-funded IT services company upon moving back to Goa. However, as Ethan’s career accelerated, their professional ambitions had to be balanced against global travel demands.The financial weight of a professional chess career also brought persistent anxiety.
“We have been worried about the finances,” Edwin confessed. “We had saved quite a bit of a corpus because, of course, our retirement fund and our backup plan in case our venture fails when we came from Japan. When we realised that we are using all that savings for Ethan, his career, there was a bit of worry as to what the future would hold.”“Chess is mostly like all expense and no income,” he added. “Even if you win a tournament, you have actually spent more to just go for the tournament than what the prize money actually is.”Fortunately, recent support from Indian donors and sponsors has made the path look manageable, helping the family move toward financial stability.
Beyond the system
Crediting the Goa Chess Association and the All India Chess Federation (AICF) for providing the initial competitive platform, Edwin differentiates between grassroots infrastructure and elite professional development.“The chess infrastructure is there because AICF is there, and then state associations are there,” Edwin noted. “The state association organises these tournaments where we get the exposure. Ethan has won thirty international medals for the country, and that is possible because of the state association, AICF, and the Sports Authority of Goa. That infrastructure has been very crucial, especially in the initial years.““But the professional track, where the player aspires to become a professional, that is more of a personal struggle,” Edwin clarified.The journey to becoming one of the world’s elite grandmasters remains a long one. But there is little doubt in the dad’s mind about the path ahead, as he said, “I think we will still follow this career path because that is where his passion lies.”
