Shivika Rohilla overcomes viral fever to finish second at Western Asia Youth Chess Championship

India’s Shivika Rohilla overcame viral fever to finish second at the Western Asia Youth Chess Championship event in Kyrgyzstan.
The 15-year-old from New Delhi finished just behind compatriot Tejaswini Ganesan in the classical tournament held at the picturesque village of Korumdu near the Issyk-Kul Lake. Shivika also finished second in the blitz category.
Not just viral fever, the young Shivika also faced another challenge in finding vegetarian food in the Kyrgyz village. But despite those obstacles, she managed to seal a podium finish.
“Because we have been travelling a lot, she had a bad viral fever. She’s been coughing throughout the tournament,” Shivika’s mother Nidhi Bhasin said from Kyrgyzstan.
For Shivika, who currently holds the title of a Woman FIDE Master, playing chess has always been a delicate balancing act between sport and studies. The teenager, who first took up chess when she was just seven as a hob, recently scored 97 percent in the board exams.
“She couldn’t play chess for a few months before her board exams because she was focussing on studies. Then after her boards, we’ve been travelling a lot outside India playing tournaments. She travels for seven to eight months in a year. I don’t even remember when we last took a holiday. Either she’s preparing for exams or she’s playing chess,” Nidhi said with an unmakable sense of pride in her voice.
“She wants to become an aeronautical engineer. She plans to study that in London. London because from there she can also travel easily in Europe to play in chess tournaments to balance both worlds,” Nidhi added.