Tragic loss

We mourn the sad loss of Prasad
Naik who was in charge of the
Mir Sultan Khan Chess Academy and
passed away tragically in a bus
accident on Sunday, the 18th of May.

Prasad was loved by one and all in the
Goan chess community and especially
by the young children for his kind
attitude. May his soul rest in peace.

Avinash, Sanjay get FIDE certification

CHENNAI: Goa received another boost in chess as two of the
coaches sent to Chennai received certification from FIDE
for successful completion of the trainer course.

AICF Vice President Sameer A. Salgaocar hailed this
development stating that the Goan children will be benefitted
tremendously through the new methods of coaching learnt
by both the coaches in Chennai. Also, these coaches in turn
could guide other instructors in Goa to impart better training
to the upcoming Goan chess players. Salgaocar praised the
efforts of Sports Authority of Goa in clearing the proposal to
depute the coaches to Chennai.

The week long intensive FIDE trainer course was conducted by
Senior Trainer and International Master Jovan Petronic of Belgrade,
Serbia, and Peter Long of Malaysia.

Titles won:
National Instructor: Avinash Malvankar.
Developmental Instructor: Sanjay R. Kavlekar.

Ivana finishes as runnerup in Under 9 Nationals

Double Under 8 Girls World Champion Ivana Furtado
added another feather in her cap when she finished second
in the Nationals Girls Under 9 Championships. Local favourite
Harshal Shahi won the Boys title by defeating Jerome Jorge
Ebenezer of Tamil Nadu in the 11th and final round of
the competition in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Commonwealth Under-10 Gold Medalist C H Meghna of Kerala,
seeded seed here, drew her last round game against
Niveditha K of Tamilnadu to finish with nine points
and the title. She edged out Ivana on a higher progressive
score in the tiebreak.

Anirudh Bhat and Riya Sawant also did Goa proud by finishing
in the top 10 of their respective sections. Ivana will now
represent India in the Asian and World Youth events in
2009 as well. Goan players will be representing India
in five consecutive years from 2005 onwards and that
underscores the tremendous upsurge of the sport in the State!