Praggnananda’s Couch Indian GM Ramesh R. B. discussed how Indian schools approach areas of study beyond the traditional academics in an interview with Dina Belenkaya. Ramesh explained how their national schools help young players develop and reward their success.

Ramachandran Ramesh

Ramachandran Ramesh

Indian GM, Praggnananda's Couch

“In India, if a child and his parents decide to pursue a particular field, for example chess, they go all in. They don’t necessarily drop out of school. But they can choose to homeschool or just talk to the school management and say: “We want to focus on chess for a couple of years, please give us more time in terms of holidays, school vacations, to participate in competitions and train.” And usually in some schools they agree to this.

And if children start to doing well, the school celebrate such children, they show them as role models and demonstrating that it’s possible to succeed in something. That’s a big difference between India and many other countries, such as European and the US.

The most common complaint is that their schools tend to frown upon any activity other than academics and put too much, unfair, importance on attendance. As if simply entering the building means you learn well…”

Indian GM Ramesh R B (2472) is widely recognized as one of India’s most successful chess coaches. He has mentored Indian prodigies, including Praggnanandhaa R, Gukesh D, Arjun Erigaisi and Aravindh Chithambaram.