Unlike 1983 and 1984, 1985 was not a great year, but I beat a GM, Andrew Jonathan Mestel. It was my first win against a Grandmaster, so that was very special. I beat him in hardly any time; I think I must have taken ten minutes for the whole game. I just followed my preparation.
Everybody was amazed when the game finished so early.
They thought it was a draw and asked, why would Mestel agree to a draw against an IM so quickly? It is never pleasant to lose, especially to a youngster, but Mestel was very sporting and made some jokes about it, smiled and went away.
I started beating GMs after that.
Missing the GM norm
In 1986, I won the National Championship but missed the GM norm at the Tata tournament in Calcutta by half a point. That was the first time I came that close to the GM norm. That was an excellent tournament. We were put up in the Oberoi, and the Tatas provided fantastic conditions to play and live in.
I and Prasad were in the same room, and my last game was against Prasad. The whole day we avoided each other and both of us wanted to play our normal game. Everyone asked Prasad to play safe so that I got my GM norm but I didn't want anything of that sort. Of course, he didn't want to do it either, but it put a lot of pressure on Prasad.
This is what happens when two players from the same nationality play against each other. It was almost a relief for me when I didn't win the game and the GM norm. The unpleasant thing would have been if I had won in the normal course, people would have said otherwise.
I was very happy about the entire tournament because I beat many Grandmasters.
For the first time, I felt I was growing to a GM's strength.
Photograph: Getty Images
Also read: Meet the King!
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