Dibyendu Barua rues career path

Kolkata:

It's never easy for a sportsperson to come to terms with the fact that his career will always be talked about for what he could have been, rather than what he was. One such case is that of chess grandmaster Dibyendu Barua, who could never quite match up to the achievements of Viswanathan Anand. There was a time when Barua was ranked as one of India's top chess players along with Anand. But having become International Master in 1982, Dibyendu fell behind, and it would take him nine more years to attain his GM norm. But the decline in the standard of Barua's chess can be attributed to some extent to his circumstances. Having fallen on bad days, the former Arjuna awardee didn't have the finances to hone his talent further. "I had all the potential, the qualities in me, but I think due to lack of sponsorship, proper guidance and opportunities I couldn't get to the top spot," said Dibyendu. Saheli Dhar, his wife, explained, "There were a number of problems. We didn't have too many tournaments in India." Following the success of former world champion Anand, there are a number of talented young chess players now making a name for themselves. While none of them have managed to reach the standards set by Anand, Dibyendu is still trying to be the chess player that he knows he had the potential to be.