2008 - Golden start for Goa!

It was a Golden start for the Goan chess
fraternity in 2008, as not one but two Goans
were declared joint winners and awarded Gold
medals in their respective sections in the Asian
Schools Chess Championships which concluded
in Kandy, Sri Lanka today.

In the Boys Under 11 section, Cyrus Perreira created
history by becoming the first Goan boy to win a medal
at the International level. Cyrus finished with 6.5 out
of a possible 8 points and was tied with Iran's Saleh Mirza.
Cyrus, by virtue of his rating, started as the second seed,
and Saleh Mirza was clearly the hot favourite as he had
beaten former World Champion Sahej Grover in the World
Youth Championships which were conducted last year in
Turkey. Nevertheless, Cyrus fought hard to get a draw in the
last round with Mirza and thus he got a Gold medal in his
very first attempt at the Asian Schools Championships.

In the Girls Under 9 section, double World Under 8 Girls
Champion Ivana Furtado tied with Sri Lanka's J. Jayaranthna
with 6.5 points each out of a possible 7 points. As they
had drawn their individual encounter and were tied on tiebreak
as well, both the girls were declared joint winners and given a
Gold medal each.

Both the winners - Cyrus and Ivana - will now be invited to the
World Schools tournament to be held later this year at a venue
to be decided as yet by FIDE, the apex body in chess. Interestingly,
AICF will be bidding for the event so there is a chance that both the
players will be getting the benefit of playing closer to home while
they aspire for still greater heights in their chess careers!