Ivana's success continues

posted by Dronacharya Awardee Raghunandan Gokhale

Ivana Furtado, the World Under 8 Girls' Champion added another laurel to her increasing booty by winning the World Under 8 School Chess Championship at Halkidiki,Greece on Saturday 5 th May,2007.

Ivana's attempts to win the higher (Under 9 years) category however could not succeed after her loss to Russian Aleksandra Golechkina in the final round.

As Ivana's coach Raghunandan Gokhale pointed out, the gap of one year is too great for the children to make up as they mature very fast each year. So the Organisers had decided to award Gold Medal to the highest scoring participant in the even- year age group. So while the organizers distributed three medals in Under 7,9,11,13,15 and 17 categories, they honoured the highest rank player in Under 6,8,10,12,14 and 16 categories.

Ivana's 6/9 score was important for her team too as India edged out mighty Russians by 35.5-35 points for the team title.Indian players (including Ivana) were awarded Gold Medals while Indian Head of Delegation Mr.Raghunandan Gokhale received the Team Championship Trophy.

So Ivana has scored a grand double winning both Under 8 World Chess Championship and Under 8 World School Championship! Now it is upto her to make Golden Hat-trick by winning Asian Under 8 Championship(Dubai) and World Under 8 Championship(Turkey)later this year.

World School Champion Ivana is expected to arrive at Panjim on 8th morning via Mumbai.