Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout after one of her earlier victories and (below) being felicitated by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. Pictures by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 17: Woman grandmaster Padmini Rout has made the right moves once again. This time, she’s won the bronze in the girl’s section of the World Junior Chess Championship held in Poland.

The youngster won the award on Monday.

Her aggressive moves on the chessboard, however, belie the fact that Padmini is a shy teenager who believes that she needs to keep practising to become a better chess player.

The 16-year-old, who learnt chess from her father Ashok Rout at the age of nine, earned the title of woman grandmaster in May. She is the second from the state to have achieved this feat after Kiran Manisha Mohanty grabbed it in March this year.

“That was one of my happiest moments,” says the player who will be in Orissa by Saturday.

Talking about her climbing to second rank in World Junior Chess, she says: “It feels great to know about the rankings but I want to win the World Championship and be like my idols Vishwanathan Anand or Mikhile Tal some day.”

The Class XII student of Commerce from DAV Chandrasekharpur keeps busy all the year round participating in tournaments. Mother Sasmita also accompanies her at times. “I travel with her sometimes but I also have to look after her elder sister. We miss her a lot since she has to take part in tournaments almost every month. She loves home-cooked food and doesn’t like the food abroad,” says Sas mita.

Padmini agrees about the food but adds that she likes travelling and making friends in the chess circles. “We discuss game strategies and interesting things about our respective countries,” she says.

But, she adds, studies are very important and she makes sure she takes care of this aspect of her life when in Bhubaneswar.

“My parents and school teachers have always helped me manage my studies along with chess. I have always been given the freedom to pursue my interests which takes off the burden from me when it comes to education,” she says. Padmini believes playing chess has helped her do well in studies.

“I get very little time to study but with a strong memory power that comes with playing chess, I have always been able to handle studies easily,” Padmini says.

The youngster loves spending time on the computer playing online games and learning tricks of chess from the internet. She also loves Hindi films, especially those starring Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan, and listening to music. But there’s another sport she loves to watch.

“I am a huge Roger Federer fan and love watching tennis,” she declares.

The talented girl also has a good hold on the painting brush. “I paint when I get free time. It is one of my passions,” says the chess champion, who also loves to read.

“You Can Win is one of my favourite books. But it is APJ Kalam’s books that I really get inspired by,” says Padmini.

The FIDE (World Chess Federation) Woman Grand Master bagged the WIM (Woman International Master) title at the age of 13 and has been coached from time to time by Satya Ranjan Pattnaik and occasionally by international masters Neeraj Kumar Mishra and Sekhar Chandra Sahu. She has also attended international coaching camps. She will be participating in various national championships in September.