Ivana and Harikrishnan reign supreme

(Photo - Ivana receiving the trophy from the Chief
Guest Mr. Naidu - G.M., Goa Shipyard Limited)

Double World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana
Furtado added yet another feather in her cap
by winning in grand style the Goa State Under 11
Girls Championship and scoring a perfect 6 points
out of 6 rounds in the hotly contested tourney
which concluded at Vasco Da Gama today. The strength
of the competition can be judged from the fact that
the top three finishers in the Girls section and the
top two in the Boys section all finished in the top 10
of National Championships in the last one year.

Ivana defeated Gauri Hadkonkar and Varshita
Reddy in the 5th and 6th rounds respectively
and the fact that she won with a round to spare
shows that she has the confidence now to go on to
win even more laurels for Goa and India. Her coach
Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale is
confident that she will give an excellent
showing in the upcoming Asian Youth Chess
Championships which are getting underway in
Teheran, Iran later this month.

In the Boys section, it was Mohanan Harikrishnan
who took the honours. This young lad who finished
4th in the National Under 9 Championships in
Bangalore last year put in another good performance.
Second place went to Anirudh Bhat who had won the
State Under 9 Championship in Margao and had also
finished sixth in the National Under 9 Championships
in New Delhi earlier this year. Asian Schools Under
11 Champion Cyrus Perreira had to remain content with
third place though he did manage to beat the winner
in the last round.

AICF Vice President Salgaocar praised Vasco Da Gama
Chess Club for having conducted the tournament in
a smooth fashion. It is understood that there will
be many more chess events to be conducted in Vasco
city in the latter half of the year. Mr. Naidu,
General Manager (Finance) of Goa Shipyard Limited,
was the Chief Guest and gave away the prizes.

The top four boys and girls will represent Goa in
the upcoming National Under 11 Championships which
get underway in Ahmedabad next month.

Standings: Girls - Ivana Furtado-1, Gauri Hadkonkar - 2,
Riya Sawant - 3, Varshita Reddy -4, Vidula Dempo - 5.

Boys - Harikrishnan Mohanan - 1, Anirudh Bhat - 2,
Cyrus Pereira - 3, Saeesh Bandodkar - 4,
Vipul Kulkarni -5