Bhakti finishes in the prize list of National 'A'

Commonwealth Under 18 Gold Medallist and Woman FIDE Master Bhakti
Kulkarni finished in the prize list in her maiden attempt at the
National 'A' which concluded recently in Chennai. Bhakti finished tied for the
12th to 15th places with WGM Eesha Karavade, WIM Kruttika Nadig and
National 'B' Champion Sai Meera.

The tournament was particularly satisfactory for Bhakti as she defeated
her archrival two time consecutive National Subjunior Champion P. Lakshmi Sahiti
in the penultimate round. Incidentally, this is the fourth time in a row that
Bhakti has finished higher than Lakshmi Sahiti who is also the reigning
Asian Under 16 Champion.

During the tournament, Bhakti beat Aabha Thakur, S. Harini and Kanuri Tejaswi.
She also had a creditable and hard fought draw against Sai Meera. Interestingly,
both Sai Meera and Harini had beaten Bhakti in the National 'B' so this definitely
shows some improvement as far as the playing level of Bhakti is concerned.

Coach Raghunandan Gokhale, who is currently in Singapore for the Asian Schools
Championships, expressed satisfaction with Bhakti's performance and stated that
she will do even better in the upcoming National Under 17 to be held in Calicut in the first month of 2007.

Avinash Malvankar wins First Veteran's Chess Title.

Avinsh Malvankar, Chess Coach at SAG Campal, lifted the
First Goa Veteran's Chess Championship organised by
Veteran Chess lovers in association with Goa State
Chess Association held at FAMAFA Beach Resort, Arambol
on Sunday December 10th . P.P.Insulkar of Vasco was
the Runner-up (4 points with progressive 13) While V.
Sivaswamy from Bambolim was third (4 points with
progressive 11). Roberto Lersahot of Italy & Augusto
Pinto of Moira stood fourth and fifth respectively.

This Chess tournament for Veterans (above35) held at
FAMAFA Beach Resort, Arambol saw a mix of Goan and
Foreign Participants. Foreign tourists gave a good
fight to the Goan veterans.

Avinash Malvankar played brilliantly throughout to win
all his games. In the process to win the title, Avinash
surprisingly remained cool against his basic nature
and routed Mick Tober (Germany), Dayanand Asnodkar (Porvorim), Suhas
Asnodkar (Porvorim), P.P Insulkar (Vasco) and Roberto
Lersahot (Italy) in five rounds respectively.

In the last round P.P. Insulkar beat strong German
player Mick Tober using his favourite Queen's Pawn
Opening. V. Sivaswamy put it across Dayanand Asnodkar
after sacrificing a Rook in the middle game.

"Arambolkars will organize a big All Goa Chess
tournament next year" were the words of Daniel
D'souza, Sarpanch of Arambol who was the Chief
Guest at the Prizes were distributed function. Daniel
was very happy to see so many chess lovers in his
village. Axel Honselaar of Double Dutch Restaurant,
Pandurang Pinge of Welcome Inn and Joaquim Viera of
FAMAFA Beach Resort who have sponsored the tournament
were also present along with Suhas Asnodkar Secretary
GSCA.

The Tournament was organised by Shrikant Barve and
Agusto Pinto and conducted by Dattaram Pinge and
Tanay Kaisary.

Bhakti wins Commonwealth Gold, Goa completes treble!

Goa's Woman FIDE Master Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2062) added another Gold
medal and a feather in her cap in the Commonwealth Chess Championships
to complete a scintillating run for the Goan Chess players in 2006.
First, in the month of June, Bhakti won the Gold in the Asian Under 14
in Teheran, Iran. Next in September, wondergirl Ivana Furtado won the
Gold in the World Under 8 in Batumi, Georgia. The final icing on the
cake was provided by Bhakti again when she won Gold in the Under 16
section of the Commonwealth Chess Championships that concluded today
at the Eskay Resorts venue in Borivali, Mumbai. All this has happened
in a space of 6 months and that too from the tiny state of Goa which
was previously unheard of in the field of chess!!

Bhakti finished with 5.5 points out of a possible 10. She finished
with a performance rating of 2344 and she will be gaining a whopping
43 FIDE rating points for her efforts. Although she is in the Under 14
section, her display earned her a Gold in the Under 18 section for her exquisite
performance. In her sterling display, she beat FIDE Master Priyadarshan (ELO 2222), WIM and Asian Junior Champion Mary Ann Gomes (ELO 2264), young upcoming star
M. R. Lalith Babu (ELO 2292) and local favourite Ramkrishna Kashelkar
(ELO 2323). Bhakti also held Jammu Open winner International Master
Himanshu Sharma (ELO 2387) to a creditable draw during the course of
the tournament.

Bhakti's coach and India's only Dronacharya Awardee Raghunandan
Gokhale expressed happiness with Bhakti's efforts. He said that the
standard of Bhakti's games had been very good and singled out her game
against former Asian Gold Medallist Priyadarshan where her one move
'Bd8' led to a Zugzwang position and deprived her opponent any
suitable move without involving a huge loss in material. Even in her
loss with Singapore Grandmaster Wu Shaobin (ELO 2475), Bhakti earned
heaps of praise from her fancied opponent for the fight that she put
up. AICF Vice President and GSCA President Sameer A. Salgaocar flew in
specially from China for the Prize Distribution ceremony said that
Bhakti had provided him with a perfect welcome gift. He also accepted
special award of recognition on behalf of World Under 8 Champion Ivana
Furtado from Commonwealth President Grandmaster Nigel Short.

In the Open section, British Grandmaster Nigel Short (ELO 2677)
clinched the top spot with a win over National Champion GM Ganguly
(ELO 2573) in the final round. Nigel finished with 9 points and won by
a clear point margin from GM Sandipan Chanda (ELO 2550) and IM
Venkatesh (ELO 2466) who finished second and third respectively. World
Under 18 Gold medallist and WGM Dronavalli Harika (ELO 2353) finished
first in the Women's section with 7 points.