Goan Chess

Bhakti awarded Candidate Master Title

2009-02-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

World Schools Under 17 Girls Champion
Bhakti Kulkarni earned yet another feather
in her cap when she was awarded the Candidate
Master title by FIDE which is the World Governing
body in chess. Bhakti also has the Woman FIDE
Master title and double World Under 8 Girls Champion
Ivana Furtado has the Woman Candidate Master title.
Thus, the 16 year old student of Parvatibai Chowgule
College in Margao creates history and becomes
the first Goan to earn an 'open' title in Goa.

Bhakti's ELO rating in the January list is 2208.
The Woman International Norm holder is presently
ranked second among Indian Girls (under 18) and is
ranked 5th among Asian Girls (under 18). The Monginis
Brand Ambassador is also ranked 13th among
Indian ladies which is a commendable accomplishment.
Former National Junior Girls Champion Bhakti has also
earned 21 precious ELO rating points from the
National 'A' Women's Championship in New Delhi but these
points will only be added in the April FIDE Rating list.

Bhakti's coach Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale
stated that her next target would be the completion of her
Woman International Master title. AICF Vice President
Sameer A. Salgaocar congratulated Bhakti and hoped that
she would continue to earn more laurels for Goa and
India.

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=5019516

Two Goan Girls in Top Seven!

2009-01-08T07:38:00.000-08:00

Following in the footsteps of Bhakti
Kulkarni, Ivana Furtado and Riya
Sawant, Goan chess fraternity had reason
to cheer the advent of two more 'wondergirls' -
Vidula Dempo and Riddhi Zantye - who stood
6th and 7th respectively in the National Under 7
Championships which concluded in Nagpur.

Sakshi Gaonkar finished 23rd in the Girls category.
In the boys section, the best performer was Nitish
Belurkar who finished 23rd followed by Anant
Prabjhudesai who finished 37th. All said and done,
it could be termed as a highly satisfying performance
by the tiny tots who promise much more glory for
Goa and India in the future!

AICF Vice President Sameer A. Salgaocar hailed
the feats of the youngsters and stated that 'the record
will show that chess is the only sport in Goa wherein
the players have given a remarkably consistent level
of performance at the National and International
tournaments'.

Anurag wins All India Open Chess tournament!

2008-12-30T22:27:00.000-08:00

Goa's Anurag Mhamal won the late N.R. Joshi Rolling Trophy
All India Rapid Open tournament in Sangli with a perfect score of 8 points
out of 8 rounds. In the process, he won the first prize of Rs. 10,000/-
and finished top of a 70 player extremely competitive field.

He defeated the following players on his way to the title -
FM Akshat Kamparia-2337, Saurabh Khardekar-2224, Pravin Prasad P.-2289,
Sameer Kathmale-2111, Rahul Sangma-2365.
All these players are rated above Anurag!

This is incidentally the first major tournament which he has won in the
open category. GSCA President Sameer A. Salgaocar congratulated
Anurag and said that he was confident that he will win may more such
events in the future!!

Following is the list of Prize winners.

1. Anurag Mhamal--Goa-- 8 pts
2. FM Akshat Kamparia--M.P--7
3. IM N. Sudhakar Babu--Indian Bank--6.5
4. Saurabh Khardekar--Mah--6
5. P.Pravin Prasad--A.P--6

2008-12-28T07:53:00.000-08:00

(Photo - Bhakti receiving the 11 Game WIM Norm certificate from
Grandmaster Elizbar Ubilava, former coach of Vishy Anand)

Bhakti makes WIM Norm

2008-12-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

Top seed and local favourite International
Master Tania Sachdev come back strongly to defend
her National Women's title with a resounding victory
against overnight leader Kruttika Nadig of Maharashtra
in the ongoing 35th Parsvanath National Women Chess
Championship at Russian Centre for Science and Culture
here on Friday. Meanwhile, Goa's Woman FIDE Master
and World Schools Under 17 Girls Champion Bhakti
Kulkarni drew her game with Orissa's Woman
International Master Kiran Manisha Mohanty to earn
her second Woman International norm with 4 points
out of the nine rounds.

Kruttika and Tania now share the top spot with
6.5 points but the latter has a crucial edge in
the championship and a golden chance to complete
her hattrick of titles as the rules stipulate that
the result of direct encounter be taken into account
in case of a tie. Playing the white side of French
Defence, Kruttika applied the Tarrasch variation
and got a comfortable position in the middle game but
later failed to capitalize on the advantage. She made
crucial mistakes in the endgame and grabbing the
opportunity Tania went on to seal the game in her
favour in 93 moves. Kruttika, however, had something
to cheer about in the day as she achieved a nine game
Women Grandmaster norm.

Soumya Swaminathan enjoys the lone second spot
with 5 points as she defeated Padmini Rout of Orissa
while Women Grand Master Swathi Ghate of LIC got the
better of third seed WGM Eesha Karavade of Maharashtra.
Monginis Brand Ambassador Bhakti Kulkarni achieved her
Women International Master norm with a draw against
Kiran Manisha Mohanty in the most fashionable Gruenfeld
Defence. The 16 year old student of Chowgule College
who is also a former National Junior Girls Champion now
will aspire to collect full points in the remaining two
games to ensure a top 6 finish and thus earn a place in
the Indian team which will be vying for top honours in
prestigious tournaments abroad in 2009. Bhakti will be
earning 20 elo points from this tournament and she
attributed her improved performance completely to the
coaching given to her by Dronacharya Awardee Raghunandan
Gokhale via the internet. Hailing Bhakti's performance,
AICF Vice President Sameer A. Salgaocar stated that she
was well on her way to create history by becoming Goa's
first Woman International Master and that it was only a
matter of time before she earned the Woman Grandmaster
title as well!

Bhakti wins Asian Junior Girls bronze medal!

2008-12-14T20:49:00.000-08:00

Goa's Woman FIDE Master Bhakti Kulkarni beat
reigning National Subjunior Champion R. Bharathi
of Tamil Nadu in the last round to win the Asian Junior
Girls Bronze Medal. Former National Junior Girls Champion
Bhakti finished with 7 points from 9 rounds with six wins,
two draws and one loss.

This is her second Asian Medal this year (the first she got
was a Bronze that she won in Teheran in Under 16 Girls)
and her fourth International Medal (she won the World Schools
Under 17 Gold Medal in Singapore and the Team Silver medal
in the World Youth Under 16 Girls Category in Vietnam).
The hardworking and dedicated 16 year old Goan lass,
who studies in Chowgule College, was awarded the medal by
none other than World Champion Viswanathan Anand and this
made the occasion even more memorable for her!

She is gaining 31 Elo rating points from this tournament
alone. Her published rating will be over 2200 which entitles
her to claim the Candidate Master Title. What is remarkable
is that she has bagged the Asian Junior medal with four years
more remaining for her to compete in this category and for
this all the credit should go to her coach Dronacharya awardee
Raghunandan Gokhale who was with her throughout the
event in Chennai and prepared her meticulously for each
adversary.

Monginis Brand Ambassador Bhakti will next play in the
prestigious National Women's 'A' Championship
which is incidentally her first round robin tournament and
begins in New Delhi from the 17th of December.

Final Standings (Boys)
1-2, Ashwin Jayaram, M R Lalith Babu 7.5,
3-4, Bhaskar Adhiban, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 7.0,
5-6, S. Nitin, P. Shyam Nikhil 6.5(65 players).

FinalStandings (Girls)
1 Mary Ann Gomes 7.5, 2-3, Kruttika Nadig,
Bhakti Kulkarni 7.0, 4-5, Padmini Rout,
P Sivasankari 6.0, 6-9 Shalmali Gagare,
N Raghavi, Kiran Monisha Mohanty,
R Preethi 5.5, 10 R Bharathi 5.0 points (35 players).

Mozambique Champion takes on Goan kids in simul

2008-12-08T06:23:00.000-08:00

Sixtime Mozambique National Champion Ivan da Silva Sales de
Andrade played a simultaneous exhibition match
against eight Goan children at the Indoor facility of Fatorda
Stadium. This was part of the 'Know Goa Programme'
conducted by the Department of NRI Affairs, Government
of Goa. In the first edition of this program this year, twelve
Goan Diaspora youth hailing from Australia, Mozambique,
United States and Canada are participating.

26 year old Ivan is a third year student of Electronic Engineering.
He is also studying Architecture simultaneously at the
University of Eduardo Mondiane, Maputo. Multitalented
Ivan is also a teacher of Capoeira, a form of Brazilian
martial art and he is a member of the International Assembly
of Humanist Movement.

Of the eight games played, the Goan kids drew four games
and lost four games. The players whose games with Ivan
ended in a draw were two time World Under 8 Girls Champion
Ivana Furtado, Vidula Dempo, Anirudh Bhat and
Niraj Saripalli. Ridhi Zantye, Gauri Hadkonkar, Riya Sawant
and Nitish Belurkar fought gallantly but had to concede
defeat in the end. A friendly match between Mozambique
and Goan players is planned in the near future.

The function was graced by the Commissioner of NRI Affairs
and ex Member of Parliament Eduardo Faleiro and Executive
Director of Sports Authority of Goa V.M. Prabhudesai.
Also present were AICF Vice President Sameer A. Salgaocar,
GSCA Secretary Suhas Asnodkar and GSCA Treasurer
Sachin Arolkar.

Ivana, Anurag finish in the prize list!

2008-11-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

Former Double World Under 8 Girls Champion
Ivana Maria Furtado and former Goa State Champion
Anurag Mhamal did Goa proud by finishing in the
prize list of the National Under 13 Chess Championships
which concluded at the Vellore Institute of Technology
at Vellore today.

In the Girls Section, Ivana finished 13th with a tally
of 7.5 points. More importantly she finished ahead
of arch rival M. Mahalakshmi of Tamil Nadu who had
won the Asian Under 10 Girls Championship earlier
this year. Dempo Brand Ambassador Ivana also finished
ahead of former World Champion Cholleti Sahajasri of
Andhra Pradesh and considering that this category is
two age groups higher than her usual category (Under 9)
this has to be considered as a tremendous performance.

In the Boys section, Anurag finished with 8 points and
in 14th place. At one stage he was 4 points after four
rounds and in the joint lead. Nevertheless, this is a creditable
showing by the student of Akash Thakur of Maharashtra.
He finished ahead of Asian Under 12 Champion Girish
Kaushik of Karnataka which goes to show the relative
strength of this highly competitive tournament.

Next up for Woman Candidate Master Ivana will be the
prestigious Singapore Open and the Malaysian
Open tournament next month. She will be accompanied by
her coach Woman Grandmaster Aarthie Ramesh and we
can expect another terrific performance from her!

Other Goan participants (with points tally and final placing)

Girls

Sampada Barve 5.5 pts 64th place
Riya Sawant 5.5 pts 66th place

Boys

Niraj Saripalli 7.5 pts 31st place
Pranav Zantye 6.5 pts 68th place
Anirudh V. Bhat 6.5 pts 77th place

Anurag Mhamal & Riddi Zantye clinch U-13 Chess State titles

2008-11-09T00:18:00.000-08:00

Anurag Mhamal & Riddhi Zantye won U-13 Boys
& Girls Chess State selection respectively
conducted by Bambolim Chess Club & Super
Sports Club in association with Goa State
Chess Association at Mahalaxmi Hindu Vachan
Mandir, Mala, Panaji.

Anurag Mhamal scored 6.5 points out of 7 rounds.
He won 6 games and drew one to claim the title.
Incidentally, Anurag has won the U-13 Chess State
Championship for the 4th time in five years
(2004, 2006, 2007 & 2008). He is presently being
coached by Akash Thakur of Nagpur. Pranav Zantye
scored 6 points from 7 rounds to finish second.

In the Girls category, 6 1/2 year old Riddhi
Zantye claimed her first title by defeating 4
players and drawing with two. She defeated the
top seed and the only rated player Sampada
Barve (elo 1634). Ridhi is being coached by
Dronacharya Awardee Raghunandan Gokhale.
Unrated Gauri Hadkonkar finished second.

Prize Winners

Boys
1) Anurag Mhamal
2) Pranav Zantye
3) Niraj S
4) Saeesh Bandodkar
5) Cyrus Pereira
6) Amod Kolvalkar

Girls
1) Riddhi Zantye
2) Gauri Hadkonkar
3) Sampada Barve
4) Pushpita Singh

Naresh Sawal, Chairman of the Pirna Urban
Cooperative Society was the Chief Guest and
Mahesh Candolkar, President of the Mahalaxmi
Hindu Vachan Mandir was the Guest of Honour.
Also present were Sameer A. Salgaocar AICF
Vice President and GSCA President, Suhas
Asnodkar GSCA Secretary, Narayan Pednekar and
Arvind Mhamal GSCA Joint Secretary.

Prizes worth Rs. 9500/- and trophies were
given to the winners.
Anurag Mhamal, Pranav Zantye, Niraj Saripalli
and Anirudh Bhat in the boys section, whereas
Sampada Barve & Ivana Furtado will represent
Goa for U-13 girls section in the upcoming
Nationals to be held at Vellore, Chennai
from 13th to 22nd Nov. 2008.

(courtesy- Arvind Mhamal, Jt. Secretary, GSCA)

Goan girls bag team medals

2008-10-31T02:52:00.001-07:00

All the three Goan girls - Riya Sawant,
Ivana Furtado and Bhakti Kulkarni - participating
in the World Youth Chess Championships
helped the country to bag team medals just
as India dominated proceedings on the
final day of the toughly contested tournament.

In the Girls Under 8 Section, Riya Sawant
helped the Indian team to edge out hosts Vietnam
to clinch the Gold Medal in the team event. India
and Vietnam both finished on and identical tally
of points, but India got the Gold via a superior
tiebreak. The United States of America got the
Bronze in this section. Riya finished 10th in her
section which is great considering that she finished
fourth in Asian Youth in Iran earlier this year.

In the Under 10 Girls section, Double World
Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana's smart recovery
towards the end of the tournament helped India
to bag the Gold medal just inching out narrowly
hosts Vietnam. The Woman Candidate Master
was in her elements as she beat Russian Ayna Egorova in
the last round and she herself finished 11th in the
individual section. Ivana may have set a record of
sorts as she won her third Gold in WYCC and she has
one in each of the three Championships - Batumi, Antalya
and Vung Tau!

In the Under 16 Girls Section, National Junior Girls
Champion Bhakti Kulkarni aided India to bag the Silver
again behind hosts Vietnam by a margin of 1.5 points.
Austria bagged the Bronze medal in this section. The
coach of the three players Dronacharya Awardee
Raghunandan Gokhale expressed satisfaction with the
outcome and said that in the coming years the trio will
'win many more laurels for the country and Goa'.

In the Individual events, India also put up an excellent
show. Padmini Rout (Girls Under 14), Sayantan Das
(Boys Under 12), Vidit Gujarathi (Boys Under 14)
and B. Adhiban (Boys Under 16) all won the Gold Medals
in their respective categories. Incidentally all four Gold
Medallists participated in the National 'B' Championships
which were conducted last month in Zambaulim, Goa.

Final Medals Tally

India 4-2-2 (Ind) 8-1-2 (Team) 12-3-4 (Total)
Vietnam 1-1-0 3-4-3 4-5-3
Croatia 2-0-0 0-0-1 2-0-1

Bhakti wins silver medal with a round to spare!

2008-10-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

Goa's Woman FIDE Master Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2163)
assured herself of the silver medal in the National
Under 17 Chess Championships being played
in Aurangabad when she beat R. Bharathi (ELO 2031)
of Tamil Nadu in the penultimate round. She won a Scotch
Game in 41 moves.

Monginis Brand Ambassador and reigning National Junior Girls
Champion Bhakti later finished with 8 points out of nine rounds.
She easily beat J. Saranya (ELO 2040) of Tamil Nadu in the last
round. With this victory Bhakti also gained enough ELO
rating points to touch the 2200 mark. This enables her
to apply for the Candidate Master title as granted by
FIDE which is the apex chess body.

Next up for Bhakti and the other Goan wondergirl Ivana Furtado
and Riya Sawant is the World Youth Chess Championships
which get underway on the 17th in Vietnam. Their coach
Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale will be travelling
with them to ensure their sufficient preparation and maximum
results.

Calendar of activities

2008-09-30T18:23:00.002-07:00

1. Nov 13- Nov 22, National Under 13, Vellore, Tamil Nadu (Anurag,
Pranav, Niraj, Ridhi and Gauri will be playing).
2. Dec 5 - Dec 14, Asian Junior Championships, Chennai (Bhakti will
be playing).
3. Dec 17 - Dec 30, National Woman's 'A' Championship, New Delhi (Bhakti
will be playing).

Anurag defeats Sahaj Grover

2008-09-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Goa's Anurag Mhamal (ELO 2113) defeated
former World Under 10 Champion and FIDE
Master Sahaj Grover (ELO 2306) of New Delhi
in the fourth round of the Commonwealth Chess
Championships being played at Nagpur.

Anurag sacrificed a queen and won a hard fought
encounter in the Sicilian Defence with the black
pieces. He now has three points from a possible four
and next faces Australian International Master
Guy West (ELO 2342) in the fifth round.

There are altogether 11 rounds in this event. Anurag
is accompanied by his father Arvind Mhamal and coach
Akash Thakur who is also a participant in the same
tournament.

For further details you can visit the homepage -

http://www.commonwealth-chess.com/

'Goan chess is definitely going places' - Grandmaster Thipsay

2008-09-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

Seven time National Champion and Arjuna Awardee
Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay of Union Bank of India had
many kind words to say while speaking at the prize distribution
ceremony of the Monginis 46th National 'B' Chess Championships
which took place at the Shri Damodar Devasthan, Zambaulim.

Thipsay stated that 'he had never seen such tremdendous growth
in any state across India, the way that chess was growing by leaps
and bounds in Goa'. He mentioned that the State Association was
taking all 'the right steps' to promote the sport across the length
and breadth of the state. He congratulated the organisers for smooth
conduct of the tournament considering the fact that 'there was not a
single appeal or protest during the thirteen rounds' and went on to add
that he would be happy to visit Goa 'any time in the future for playing
in well planned events such as this one'.

Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi of Air India, while speaking on the occasion
expressed his happiness over the fact that in Goa it is mostly the kids
that are coming forward to participate in tournaments in a big way. Being
India's youngest grandmaster himself, Parimarjan stated that this was a 'healthy
trend' that should be kept alive at all costs as it is 'the youngsters that will
keep the torch burning for the future generations'. He mentioned that he
will take 'happy memories back with him from Goa' and that he will be more
than happy to visit again in the future for chess.

The Chief Guest of the function Datta Naik presented a copy of his latest book
to Grandmaster Thipsay stating that by strange cooincidence his latest novel
included a chapter on chess. He mentioned as the CEO of Monginis that the firm
was happy to associate with chess activities in the future especially when they
were related to the Goan children.

The Chief Arbiter K.R. Seshadri presented the Arbiter's report and mentioned
that as many as 10 Goans will be gaining their initial FIDE rating from this
tournament. This was a 'historic event' he added mentioning the record number
of entries (411) for the tournament and congratulated the Goa State Chess
Association for this feat. G.B. Joshi, reputed coach from New Delhi, was felicitated
by the Chief Guest on this occasion as were the coaches who have contributed in great measure to the progress in Goa - R.V. Gokhale, Anup Deshmukh, Akash Thakur, C.S. Gokhale and Varughese Koshy.

Sanguem MLA Vassudev Meng Gaonkar presided over the function and congratulated the Goan players for participating in large numbers and accomplishing their initial ratings in such fine fashion. Shri Damodar Devasthan Committee Chairman Manjunath Dukle was the Guest of Honour.

GSCA President Sameer A. Salgaocar welcomed the gathering and GSCA Secretary Suhas Asnodkar proposed the vote of thanks. GSCA Vice President Augusto Pinto was the compere for the evening.

Gains in rating of Goan players

1. Anurag Mhamal (ELO 2113) gains 28 points.
2. Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2166) gains 14 points.
3. Cyrus Perreira (ELO 1873) gains 7 points

Initial FIDE rating accomplished by Goans (in alphabetical order)

1. Anirudh Bhat 1927
2. Kelvin D'Lima 1758
3. Kishor Bandekar 1716
4. Kulkarni, Vipul 1641
5. Mohinish Naik 1808
6. Raje, Anil 1972
7. Ritviz Parab 1728
8. Rohan Ahuja 1700
9. Shravan Barve 1816
10. Snehil Shetty 1598

Pairings

2008-09-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

For latest pairings please
use the following link -

http://chess-results.com/tnr15999.aspx?lan=1

Live games of 'B'

2008-09-18T21:49:00.001-07:00

For live games of the
46th Monginis National 'B'
Chess Championships please go
to the following link -

http://monroi.com/watch/?tnm_id=1114

Entries

2008-09-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Grandmasters

1. Pravin Thipsay (Mah) 5000033 2444
2. Neelotpal Das (PSPB) 5003512 2462
3. D. Chakkravarthy(TN) 5011132 2464
4. Parimarjan Negi (AI) 5016690 2529

International Masters

1. Sriram Jha (LIC) 5001668 2429
2. Atanu Lahiri (LIC) 5002818 2338
3. Anup Deshmukh (LIC) 5000564 2284
4. Varugeese Koshy (PSPB) 5000114 2283
5. M.R. Venkatesh (PSPB) 5005779 2462
6. S.P. Sethuraman (TN) 5021596 2425
7. P. Konguvel (PSPB) 5000548 2415
8. Saptarshi Roy (RSPB) 5008980 2404
9. C.S. Gokhale (IA) 5001315 2325
10. B. Adhiban (TN) 5018471 2422
11. M. Shyam Sundar (TN) 5019141 2312
12. P. Karthikeyan (TN) 5018226 2402
13. Ashwin Jayaram (TN) 5018137 2436
14. Deep Sengupta (PSPB) 5008352 2454
15. N. Sudhakar Babu (IB) 5000068 2335
16. G.B. Prakash (IB) 5001285 2387
17. S.C. Sahu (Orissa) 5000157 2262
18. V. Saravanan (PSPB) 5000580 2405
19. Prathamesh Mokal (Mah)5006040 2358
20. Akshayraj Kore (Mah) 5012414 2392
21. Rahul Shetty (IA) 5000513 2293
22. S.Satyapragyan (IA) 5004306 2414
23. S. Saha (Railways) 5002532 2367
24. Ravi Hegde (Kar) 5000254 2218
25. S.R. Chowdhary (RSPB) 5002974 2411
26. R.R. Laxman (RSPB) 5005361 2498
27. P.D.S.Girinath (RSPB) 5000572 2423
28. V. Kamble (RSPB) 5009847 2376
29. Shankar Roy (RSPB) 5001781 2311
30. D.P.Singh (RSPB) 5007780 2299
31. R.Balasubramanium(RSPB)5001277 2271
32. Himanshu Sharma (Har) 5007836 2423
33. Dinesh K.Sharma (LIC) 5004110 2354
34. G. Rohit (AP) 5012660 2457

Woman Grandmasters

1. S. Meenakshi (IA) 5004381 2336
2. R. Aarthie (IA) 5004373 2265

Woman International Masters

1. Padmini Rout (Orissa) 5029295 2256
2. Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Orissa)5019575 2246

Former National 'A' players

1. M.R. Lalith Babu (AP) 5024595 2328
2. Swapnil S. Dhopade (Mah) 5019184 2389
3. K.V. Shantharam (IB) 5000319 2178
4. Abhishek Das (Jha) 5013348 2259
5. Vishnu Prasanna (TN) 5030692 2341
6. Nassir Wajih (RSPB) 5000173 2271
7. Vikramjit S. Singh (AP) 5006090 2230
8. C.S. Unni (Mah) 5001820 2169

Official Entries/ Seeded Players

1. Rajesh Oza (AICFB) 5024099 1916
2. Swapnil Shah (AICFB) 5044626 1889
3. Srikrishna Udupa (AICFB) 5014875 2024
4. Madan Bagayatkar (AICFB) 5046866 1910
5. Gajendra Singh (LIC) 5002923 2159
6. Brajesh Agarwal (LIC) 5000483 2140
7. Augustine Thomas (LIC)
8. Devesh Mukherjee (Raj) 5022045 2004
9. Atishay Ajmera (Raj) 5044502 1931
10. Mukesh Mandloi (Raj) 5014182 2047
11. Arpit Saxena (Raj) 5006694 1972
12. Atul Kumar (JK) 5018510 2046
13. Sumit Grover (JK) 5020409 1973
14. Ritwan Sauntra (JK) 5044804 1925
15. Ajit Singh (JK) 5046076 1819
16. Mughaho Awomi (Nagaland)
17. Sedi Nagi (Nagaland)
18. Seyiekhrietuo Mere (Nagaland)
19. Kahoshe Awomi (Nagaland)
20. Rahul Sangma (Delhi) 5013615 2339
21. Prasenjit Datta (Delhi) 5004420 2283
22. Vaibhav Suri (Delhi) 5045185 2081
23. Prince Bajaj (Delhi) 5045150 2111
24. Pradip K. Chaudhari(Tri) 2082
25. Biswajit Nag (Tri) 5065151 2029
26. Tapan Jamatia (Tri) 5002273 1821
27. Sekhawat Hussen (Tri) date of birth 23/6/89
28. M.K. Panigrahi (Orissa) 5004713 2214
29. A. Upadhyaya (Orissa) 5028949 2189
30. Utkal R. Sahoo (Orissa) 5034566 2124
31. S. Mishra (Orissa) 5008115 2287
32. P. Maheswaran (TN) 5013232 2241
33. P. Phoobalan (TN) 5011191 2236
34. K. Narayanan (TN) 5016037 2182
35. R.A. Pradeep Kumar (TN) 5023181 2250
36. R. Arun Karthik (TN) 5021030 2277
37. Manish Joshi (MP) 5008840 2142
38. Hitesh Jariya (MP) 5022061 2086
39. Ajay Virwani (MP) 5001188 2078
40. Rajesh Diwan (MP) 5007178 2101
41. M.S. Thejkumar (RSPB) 5009154 2441
42. N. Sanjay (Kar) 5003075 2355
43. G.A. Stany (Kar) 5029104 2279
44. M.G. Gahan (Kar) 5027373 2114
45. B.S. Shivananda (Kar) 5007038 2328
46. V. Raghavendra (Kar) 5014557 2098
47. S. Chakraborty (WB) 5012147 2016
48. Rupankar Nath (WB) 5006724 2137
49. Joydeep Dutta (WB) 5016592 2253
50. Anjan Mallick (WB) 5034973 2228
51. O.T. Anilkumar (Ker) 5017530 2159
52. E.P. Nirmal (Ker) 5011264 2211
53. P. Sreekumar (Ker) 5005019 2157
54. P.K. Suresh (Ker) 5015391 2058
55. S. Raghuraman (TN) 5016398 2083
56. Akash Thakur (RSPB) 5008514 2276
57. V.S. Negi (IA) 5001978 2118
58. G.B. Joshi (IA) 5000262 2302
59. R. Raman (Pondy)
60. R. Sabarimuthu (Pondy) 5023645 2034
61. M. Kathiravan (Pondy) 5034922 1821
62. S. Vasudevan (Pondy) 5002052 2055
63. Rajesh Kumar (Jha) 5011507 2085
64. Vikas Sinha (Jha) 5033489 2047
65. Alka Das (Jha) 5019478 2033
66. B.C. Tripaty (Jha) 5007020 2095
67. Purushottam (AP)
68. Meharchinna Reddy(AP) 5027420 2239
69. K. Santosh Reddy(AP)
70. Rishipal Singh (AP)
71. M. Vinaykumar (AP) 5016649 2265
72. L. Atembi (Man) 5034337 1963
73. Himal Gusain (Chan) 5033861 2108
74. B. Prasad (Chan)
75. A. Nirankari (Chan)
76. Naveen Bansal (Chan)
77. N. Rajasuba (Guj) 5003504 2196
78. H. Thanaki (Guj)
79. M. Raval (Guj)
80. M. Parmar (Guj)
81. Arvinderpreet Singh (Pun)
82. Ram Prakash (Pun)
83. Vikas Sharma (Pun) 5005990 2197
84. Vivek Astir (Pun) 5021014 2026
85. Rajib Dhar (Ass) 5015596 2131
86. Utpal Baruah (Ass) 5009669 2141
87. S. Gohain (Ass)
88. Monjit Tow (Ass)
89. Cdr. Balwinder Singh (SSCB)
90. D.K. Chopra (CRSB)
91. M. Raju (CRSB)
92. Pritam Singh (CRSB)
93. Sham Dutta (CRSB)
94. Niraj Saripalli (Goa) 5045657 1952
95. A. Deshpande (Mah) 5021774 2148
96. G. Maras (Mah) 5014433 2187
97. Hemant Mandhare (Mah) 5006031 2181
98. Chinmay Kulkarni (Mah) 5023513 2201
99. T. Mohan Rao (AN)
100. B. Chiranjeevulu (AN)
101. K. Neelakantam (AN)
102. P. Anand Rao (AN)
103. Ivana M. Furtado (Goa) 5048400 1836
104. Akshat Khamparia (RSPB)5016541 2305
105. B.T. Muralikrishnan(RSPB)
106. Laltu Chatterjee (RSPB)5040353 2236
107. S. Kutwal (RSPB) 5006520 2340
108. S. Mari Arul (RSPB) 5001986 2249
109. Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 5019516 2166
110. Vasanth Naik (Goa) 5033551 1969
111. Anurag Mhamal (Goa) 5024366 2113
112. Vidit Gujarathi (Mah) 5029465 2356
113. Ashutosh Kumar (Bih)
114. Kunal (Bih)
115. Saurabh Roop (Bih)
116. P.K.Singh (Bih)
117. Manav Saxena (Har) 5012546 2035
118. M. C. Tanwar (Har) 5004535 2074
119. Aman Chahal (Har) 5028345 1890
120. Rajiv Vasudev (Har) 5038227 1962
121. Th. Sunachand Meitei (Man) 2026
122. Avinash Sharma (U.P.) 5014662 1903
123. Irshad Ahmed (U.P.)
124. W.A.Khan (U.P.) 5006180 2046
125. Deepak Katiyar (U.P.) 5026792 2134
126. S. Rangarajan (LIC) 5008735 2155
127. Devkrishnan (H.P.)
128. Smeeru Thakur (H.P.) 5023726 1960
129. Jagdish Chandel (H.P.) 5065968 1835
130. Sudarshan Kr. (H.P.)
131. S.S. Dave (IA) 5000734 1959
132. Hemant Sharma (IA) 5025842 2121
133. Zohming Liana (Miz) 5015456 2014
134. Lal Fakzuala Colney (Miz)
135. B.T.Romawia (Miz)
136. Daniel (Miz)
137. Ram S. Krishnan (BSNL) 5010519 2300
138. Raj Kumar Chauhan (BSNL) 5018315 2100
139. P. Jaya Kumar (BSNL) 5005442 2104
140. Neeraj Dhimri (BSNL) 5051002 1840
141. A.K. Verma (SSCB)
142. T.S. Satish Kumar (SSCB)
143. S.K. Prasad (SSCB)
144. M. Ravi Balaji (SSCB)
145. S.K.Sinha (OF)
146. D.R. Jaiswal (OF)
147. O.P.Yadav (OF)
148. Prem Babu (OF)
149. Shreyans Daklia (Chat) 5029139 2189
150. Shrenik Dhaklia (Chat) 5019893 2009
151. M. Farooqui (Chat)
152. Vinod Sharma (Chat)
153. Jitender Rawat (DDA) 5034477 1837
154. Brij Mohan Gupta (DDA)
155. R.S. Rawat (DDA)
156. Madan Lal (DDA)

Donor Entries

1. Rahul Karnani (Raj) 5038219 1894
2. Arjun Bharat (Kar) 5032725 1815
3. Ajit Kumar (JK)
4. Arvindu (JK)
5. Akash Langer (JK)
6. Rajinder Singh (JK)
7. G.V. Sai Krishna (AP) 5028280 2139
8. Louie M. Varghese (AP) date of birth 12/8/69
9. Sidharth Venkatesh (Mah) 5053498 1810
10. Sukhuvi Achumi (Nagaland)
11. Toikhu Awomi (Nagaland)
12. Tokuho Awomi (Nagaland)
13. Visanyizo Kuotso (Nagaland)
14. Rishi Thariani (Delhi) 5030501 2021
15. Sanjay Khurana (Delhi) 5019745 1712
16. Ram Gupta (Delhi) 5035899 1943
17. Kunal Das (Tri) 5001501 1690
18. M. Vivek (TN) 5064139 1541
19. R. Premnath (TN) 5021928 2257
20. Eshwanth Dev Kumar (TN) 5007330 1826
21. Arvind Subramanium (TN)
22. R.S. Santhosbaala (TN) 5026610 1915
23. Jitendria Vel S. (TN) 5032890 1864
24. Abhishek Shivathaya (Goa) date of birth 18/1/95
25. Debashis Das (Orissa) 5024854 2294
26. Krushna Mishra (Orissa) 5006481 1690
27. G.C. Mohapatra (Orissa) 5015286 2138
28. Gobardhan Behera (Orissa) 5076390 1926
29. Pradeep K. Das (Orissa)
30. Kshitij Singla (Mah) 5070341 1650
31. Vishvajit Kirane (Mah) 5029651 1831
32. Niranjan Navalgund (Kar) 5030854 2091
33. Naveen S. Hegde (Kar)
34. Girish A. Koushik (Kar) 5038448 2108
35. R. Hanumantha (Kar) 5028043 1907
36. S.M. Bhagwat (Kar)
37. Abhijit Joshi (Mah) date of birth 21/07/1979
38. Shirish Hingne (Mah) date of birth 26/09/1965
39. Aniruddha Oak (Mah) date of birth 3/01/1992
40. Sayantan Das (WB) 5034426 2135
41. Prantik Roy (WB) 5035120 2057
42. Shripad Kenkre (Mah)
43. Jayesh Ramanuj (Guj) date of birth 1/7/75
44. Pratik Manek (Guj) date of birth 1/12/83
45. Naishad Bhatt (Guj) date of birth 27/10/57
46. Kalpesh Acharya (Guj) date of birth 19/8/79
47. Anil Raje (Goa)
48. Shyam Shetye (Mah) 5006155 1945
49. Sidhali Shetye (Mah) 5038294 1848
50. Shardul Gagare (Mah) 5037883 2070
51. Shalmali Gagare (Mah) 5038650 2092
52. Pranav Shetty (Mah) 5035058 2138
53. K.Gopalakrishnan (IB) 5002044 2064
54. V. Sreelakshmi (AP) 5053820
55. R.T. Huttineni (AP)
56. C. Praveen Kumar (TN) 5007372 2302
57. Akash Pc Iyer (TN) 5006775 1920
58. S. Siddharth (TN) 5010535 2286
59. R.K. Shiva Murugan (TN) 5039630 1971
60. V. Muthuram (TN) 5077699 1720
61. S. Venkat Sundaram (TN) 5015995 2110
62. Rucha Pujari (Mah) 5024528 2022
63. Sameer Kathmale (Mah) 5024498 2094
64. Purval Jadhav (Mah) 5048478 1649
65. Sagar Shah (Mah) 5022509 2218
66. Dhruv Shah (Mah) 5053153 1791
67. Hardik Mehta (Mah) 5037913 2037
68. Simit Shah (Guj) 5066166
69. Jalpan Bhatt (Guj) 5019800 1900
70. M. Surya Narayana (AP) 5079101 1817
71. J. Venkata Ramana (AP) 5001528 2205
72. Amrutha Mokal (Mah) 5016371 2091
73. Jotish Joy (Delhi) 5019044 1620
74. Brendan Peroz (Goa) date of birth 19/5/96
75. Dushyant Das (Jha) 5011590 2153
76. J. Ramakrishna (AP)
77. Md. Ismail Khadri (AP)
78. B Kranti Kiran (AP)
79. Y.K. Babu (AP)
80. K.V. Kartik (AP) 5029430 2013
81. Mla Reddy (AP) 5055563
82. Chirag Morajkar (Goa) date of birth 24/10/2000
83. S. Subbaraju (AP)
84. Chakravarthy (AP)
85. P. Shyam Nikhil (TN) 5027420 2364
86. Vivek Bengre (Kar) date of birth 20/12/94
87. Fenil Shah (Guj) 5019850 2129
88. Vinod Bhagwat (Mah) 5005949 2187
89. Sohan Phadke (Mah) 5016223 2283
90. Abhishek Kelkar(Mah) 5019257 2120
91. N. Surendran (TN) 2150
92. Rohit Lune (Mah) 5052610 1770
93. Prejit Phukan (Ass)
94. C.R. Bhuyan (Ass)
95. A. Sadique (Ass)
96. B.B. Handique (Ass) 5020573 2125
97. R. Chakravarty (Ass)
98. Nripur Sharma (Ass)
99. Pradip Sharma (Ass)
100. Ch. Sahajasri (AP) 5045118 1918
101. Deeptamesh Reddy (AP) 5026300 2017
102. Atharva Mulay (Mah) date of birth 12/9/96
103. Arunima Kalra (Delhi) 5048958 1521
104. Nandhini Saripalli(Goa) 5031885 1884
105. Anirudh V. Bhat (Goa) 5028060
106. Atul Dahale (Mah) 5037794 2075
107. J. Arun (TN) 5035961 2084
108. G. Santoshkumar (TN) 1984
109. Troilukya Nanda (Ass) 5020190 2066
110. Madhab Sarmah (Ass)
111. Mrinal Kakoty (Ass)
112. Nirab Bordoloi (Ass) 5075467 1864
113. Anuj Protim Baruah (Ass) 5002583
114. Mrinal Deka (Ass)
115. Monoj Baruah (Ass) 5064619
116. Dharmeswar Pegu (Ass)
117. S. Handique (Ass) 5065330 1929
118. Khalil Ahmed (Ass)
119. Pankaj Bora (Ass)
120. Urvi Bandekar (Goa) 5084270 D.O.B. 19/2/2000
121. Ashesh Keni (Goa) date of birth 6/8/65
122. N.B.Krishna (AP) 5068797 1725
123. E. Sharath (TN) 5035155 1897
124. Mohinder Sharma (HP)
125. Amrut Naik (Goa) date of birth 29/10/61
126. Kishor Bandekar (Goa) date of birth 28/2/60
127. Parikshit Phaldesai (Goa)date of birth 10/10/93
128. Tatvesh Sawant (Goa) 5085071 D.O.B. 24/11/2000
129. Abhishek Swamy (Goa) date of birth 26/2/92
130. Sakshi Naik Gaonkar (Goa)date of birth
131. Ritwiz B. Parab (Goa) date of birth 9/8/99
132. Riya Savant (Goa) 5067359 1407
133. Prasanna Swamy (Goa) 5029848 1867
134. V. Sivaswamy (Goa) 5030056 1820
135. Sampada Barve (Goa) 5046963 1634
136. Rohan Ahuja (Goa) date of birth 26/9/98
137. Rishubh Naik (Goa) 5067081 1700
138. Shravan S. Barve (Goa) date of birth 31/3/88
139. Kedar Panandikar (Goa) date of birth 10/5/95
140. Omkar V. Damle (Goa) date of birth 21/8/97
141. Rajaryan Kuvelkar (Goa) date of birth 19/5/2001
142. Nihal Melwani (Goa) date of birth 25/5/94
143. A. Prabhudessai (Goa) date of birth 26/5/2001
144. Nitish Belurkar (Goa) date of birth 19/10/2001
145. Vipul Kulkarni (Goa) 5028582
146. Snehil Shetty (Goa) 5073502
147. Kelvin D'Lima (Goa) 5047439
148. Vidula Dempo (Goa) 5085551
149. Josiah Rebello (Goa) date of birth 27/12/99
150. Alfredo Menezes (Goa) date of birth 26/2/97
151. Mohinish Naik (Goa) date of birth 3/1/95
152. Sumeet Joshi (Mah) 5086680
153. Biplav Randhir (Bih)
154. Arjun Tiwari (Mah) 5011337 2305
155. Girish Dhande (Mah) 5085659
156. S. Bhambure (Mah) 5025931 1922
157. Harihara Sudhan (TN) 5045312 2017
158. V.A.V. Rajesh (TN) 5029317 2256
159. P. Saketh (AP) 5042178 1652
160. L.V. Shiv Kumar (AP)
161. Busi Reddy Gopal Reddy (AP)
162. Vangmai Busi Reddy (AP)
163. P. Karthik (AP)
164. M. Abhilash Reddy (AP) 5024668 2070
165. Neetikshya Singh (Har)
166. Yogesh Gautam (Har) 5009324 1808
167. J. Sridhar (TN) 5006457 2169
168. M. V. Varman (TN) 5037590 1780
169. Ishwar Ramteke (Mah) 5031222 1741
170. Pankaj Singh (Mah) 5086078
171. Prasanna Rao (Mah) 5022401 2233
172. R.K. Maheshwari (U.P.) 5017505
173. Anish Gandhi (Mah) 5061032 1588
174. Kuldeep Kumar (U.P.)
175. Vikas Nigam (PSPB) 5041287 2146
176. M. Satvik (Kar) 5030005 1891
177. Snehal Bhosale (Mah) 5021995 2079
178. Pratik Patil (Mah) 5038758 2003
179. Shailesh Rawal (Guj)
180. Kuldeep Kumar (U.P.)
181. Saeesh Bandodkar (Goa) 5084911
182. V.M.Rajeev (Ker) 5022703 1897
183. Sukanya Chari (Goa) 5067391 1434
184. M. Harikrishnan (Goa) 5028272 1750
185. A. Malvankar (Goa) 5026776 1914
186. Sanjeeta S. Dessai (Goa) date of birth 24/4/95
187. Saurabh S. Dessai (Goa) date of birth 16/10/97
188. Laisram Imocha (Ass) 5000351 2188
189. Gautam R. Tari (Goa) 5066921 1717
190. Lt.Cl. V. Nagesh (SSCB)
191. Amit Sukhpal (Mah) 5034302 1836
192. Karma Pandya (Guj) 5030331 1989
193. Cyrus Perreira (Goa) 5044928 1873
194. Ridhi Zantye (Goa)
195. Sanjay Kavlekar (Goa) 5045541 1908
196. Amaranjey Dubey (Bih)
197. Tarun Mathur (Del) 5042950 1801
198. Rajendra Teli (Raj) 5004543 2118

AICF Camp in Goa a huge success!

2008-09-08T08:17:00.001-07:00

International Master Chandrasekhar Gokhale
was felicitated by Arjuna Awardee and former
India Captain Brahmanand Shankhwalkar at
the conclusion of the AICF Coaching Camp
which was underway for 8 days at the Conference
Hall of the Sports Authority of Goa, Campal.

Most of the children participating in the camp
were specially trained by the International Master
with emphasis on middle game techniques and
with the goal of getting them prepared for the
upcoming National 'B' tournament in Zambaulim.
Among the students were Double World Under 8
Girls Champion Ivana Furtado, National Under 9 fourth
placed Mohanan Harikrishnan, Vidula Dempo,
Ritviz Parab, Nihal Melwani and others.

IM Gokhale expressed his satisfaction with the progress
of the kids and said that there will definitely be more
laurels won by the Goan youngsters in the days to come.
AICF Vice President Salgaocar thanked IM Gokhale for his
efforts in moulding the young chess minds of Goa
and hoped that he would make more such visits
in the future as well. GSCA Secretary Suhas Asnodkar
praised AICF for the coaching scheme and expressed
his desire for more such camps in the coming years.

Vasant wins State Championship

2008-09-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

Joint Secretary of Goa State Chess
Association Vasant Naik won the Goa
State Chess Championship after beating
Secretary Suhas Asnodkar in a nail biting
finish in the last round played at the Sant
Gadge Maharaj Hall, Porvorim. A cash prize
of Rs. 5000 and a glittering trophy was
awarded to Vasant whereas the runnerup
Sumit received Rs. 3000 and a trophy.

Vasant finished with seven and a half
points from the nine round event level
with Sumit Asnodkar and Standrik Colaco.
However, thanks to a better progressive score,
Vasant finished as Champion whereas Sumit
and Standrik had to remain content with second
and third place respectively.

Fourth place went to last year's champion
Anurag Mhamal whereas the 5th and 6th place
went to Swapnil Hoble and Niraj Saripally.
The top six players along with double world
under 8 girls champion Ivana Furtado and
National Junior Girls Champion Bhakti Kulkarni
are eligible to represent Goa in the upcoming
Monginis 46th National 'B' Championship to
be held at Zambaulim.

Industrialist Pravin Zantye was the Chief Guest
and gave away the prizes. AICF Vice President
Sameer A. Salgaocar was the Guest of Honour
and GSCA Secretary Suhas Asnodkar proposed
the vote of thanks. Dattaram Pinge and Tanay
Kaisary were the arbiters for the event in which
134 total players participated.

Minor placings -
7. Avinash Malvankar
8. P.P. Insulkar
9. Manmesh Naik
10. Nandini Saripalli
11. Kelvin D'Lima
12. Rishubh Naik
13. Arvind Mhamal
14. Suhas Asnodkar
15. Amogh Namshikar

Special Prizes -
Under 7 - Nitish Belurkar
Under 9 - Snehil Shetty
Under 11 - Alfredo Menezes
Under 13 - Ritviz Parab
Under 15 - Rohan Ahuja

Donor Entry fee reduced for Goan players

2008-08-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

In the Executive Body Meeting of the GSCA
which was held at Sant Gadge Maharaj Hall
at Alto Porvorim on the 24th of August, it was
decided to reduce the donor entry fee for
Goan players to Rs. 4000 from Rs. 6000 for
the forthcoming 46th Monginis National 'B'
Chess Championship. AICF Vice President
GSCA President Sameer A. Salgaocar stated
that 'this was a golden opportunity for the young
upcoming Goan players to participate against
top quality opposition as well as to get a FIDE
rating for themselves'.

Along with Double World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana
Furtado and National Junior Girls Champion
Bhakti Kulkarni, six Goans qualify for the
National 'B' Chess Championship with the
regular entry fee of Rs. 1000. The rest of the
Goans who want to play have to participate
under the Donor Entry category. A record number
of 134 players are participating in the State
Championship presently underway at Porvorim
and many players and parents requested GSCA
to reduce the fee for the Donor entries.

Of the fee of Six thousand rupees, three thousand
has to be remitted to All India Chess Federation. Of the
balance three thousand, one thousand has been retained
for the adminstrative expenses of the GSCA
to organise the tournament and the rest will be
relinquished with an idea to get record Goan
participation for this prestigious event. 'We are
expecting not less than 50-60 entries from Goa
itself and more than 250 from all over India', Salgaocar
stated adding that already '2 Grandmasters,
10 International Masters and 3 Women Grandmasters
have been confirmed for the tournament'.

Bhakti in the Limca Book of Records

2008-08-25T01:22:00.001-07:00

Reigning National Junior Girls Champion Bhakti
Kukarni made it to the Limca Book of Records
in the 2008 edition (on page 413) when she was
mentioned in the record breaking haul of eight
Gold medals by the Indian contingent participating
in the Asian Youth Chess Championships in
Teheran, Iran in 2006.

Monginis brand Ambassador Bhakti had won the
Gold in the Under 14 Girls Section. The other 7
Indians to win the Gold and thus sweep all the
competitive categories in Iran included Sweety Patel,
Sahajasri, Padmini Rout, Prince Bajaj, S. Nitin,
G.V. Sai Krishna and Vidit Gujarathi. The last two
mentioned will be seen in action in Goa during the
upcoming National 'B' Chess Championships which
get underway next month in Zambaulim.

Bhakti's coach Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan
Gokhale expressed delight at the Woman FIDE Master's
accomplishment and predicted that she would add her
name in more categories in the years to come. GSCA
President Sameer A. Salgaocar hoped that 'many more Goans
inspired by Bhakti and Ivana will make it to the Limca Book of
Records in the future'.

Double World Under 8 Girls Champion and Asian Under 10 Girls
Runner-up Ivana Furtado had made it to the Limca Book of Records
in 2007 as India's youngest World Champion in any sport.
The Dempo Goodwill Ambassador had won the crown in
Batumi in 2006 when she was just 7 years and 226 days old.

Anurag wins Santa Cruz chess tourney

2008-08-19T23:36:00.000-07:00

Goa State Champion and wonderboy Anurag Mhamal
won the Under 15 chess tournament conducted
by Alto Santa Cruz Residents Association and
Bambolim Chess Club at the Shree Shantadurga
Devasthan, St Cruz in fine style with a perfect
score of 8 points from 8 rounds. Enroute to his
triumph, Anurag beat Umang Kaisare, Pranav Zantye,
Asian Schools gold medallist Cyrus Pereira,
Suyan Belurkar and Anand Prabhu Desai among others.

Anurag took home a trophy and a cash prize of rupees
2500 for his efforts. World Schools medallist Pranav
Zantye was the runner-up to continue his fine showing
from Singapore.

Other placings: 3 - Nandini Saripalli, 4 - Cyrus Pereira,
5 - Vipul Kulkarni (all 6.5 points each), 6 - Umang Kaisare,
7 - Alfredo Menezes, 8 - Kochrkar Avinash, 9 - Pawase Kapil,
10 - Shanbag Supryia (all 6 points each).

Yeshitesh Shirodkar emerged as the best local player
and won the best ASCRA player trophy. Sampada Barve,
Asian Under 8 fourth placed Riya Sawant and
Gauri Hadkonkar were awarded promising players
trophies.

Elgar Noronha was the chief guest. Sameer Salgaocar,
Dr Ajit Shirodkar, Subhash Dempo and Mohan Pai were the
Guests of honour.

Goan Chess League

2008-08-12T23:41:00.000-07:00

Plans for a 'Goan Chess League' are
underway and this is expected to
commence shortly after the National
'B' Chess Championship in September and
the World Youth Chess Championship
in October. Members suggestions and
inputs were asked for in the last Executive
Body Meeting of the GSCA which took place
on the 10th of August.

There will be approximately 6-8 teams which
will participate in this event. Sponsors are
being approached with a target of 15th
November as the kickoff date. Each team
will have between 5-7 players of which four
can participate in a given encounter. The
teams will play on both home and away basis
and the top three teams will be given certificates
and prizes.

Dr. Peter Carvalho, the President of Cortalim
Chess Club, will be the Commissioner of the
first edition of the league. Interested participants
can contact him at peter_carvalho1962@rediffmail.com.

Candidate Master Title for Ivana

2008-08-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

Double World Under 8 Champion Ivana
Furtado became Goa's second titled
player when she was awarded the Woman
Candidate Master Title after winning the
World Schools Girls Under 9 Gold medal
in Singapore.

Goa's other titled player is Woman FIDE
Master Bhakti Kulkarni. Dempo Goodwill
Brand Ambassador Ivana will be now
attempting a hattrick of World Championships
when she participates in the Under 10 Girls
Section of the World Youth Chess
Championships in Vietnam in October.
Ivana's earlier two Gold medals had
been won in Batumi, Georgia and in
Antalya, Turkey.

Her coach Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan
Gokhale has hailed Ivana's accomplishment and
stated that 'Ivana has all the potential to become
a World Women's Champion in the future'.

PCA applies for affiliation

2008-07-31T23:20:00.000-07:00

Mr. Peter Rebello, the Secretary of
the newly founded Panjim Chess Academy,
has formally applied for affiliation to the
Goa State Chess Association. Their
proposal will be taken up for consideration
at the next Executive Body meeting of
the Association to be held on the 10th of
August.

The list of members of the Academy are
as follows -

1. Tony Dias (President)
2. Peter Rebello (Secretary)
3. Edward Jorge (Treasurer)
4. Sanjay Dempo
5. Shaikh Sattar
6. Guilly Rebello
7. Sanchita Thali
8. Damodar Thali
9. Archangel Pinheiro
10. Neil Braganza Cortez
11. Raju Naik
12. Roque Fernandes

PCA has expressed its intent to conduct various
tournaments in Panjim as well as coaching classes
for upcoming players. They have also tied up with
sponsors for their annual budget, it is reliably
understood.

Anyone interested in joining the Academy can contact
Mr. Rebello (98224 80077), Mr. Dias (98202 95397)
or Mr. Jorge (98224 87722).

Golden day for Goa

2008-07-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

Reigning National Junior Girls Champion
and Woman FIDE Master Bhakti Kulkarni
created history by becoming the first Goan
to win Gold medals at four levels when she
won the Gold medal in the World Schools
Girls Under 17 Chess Championships in
Singapore. This was one of many medals
for the Goans who stole the limelight by
going to the podium not less than seven times.

Monginis brand ambassador Bhakti, who is
presently studying in Chowgule College, had
won the Asian Under 14 Girls in Teheran
in 2006, the Commonwealth Under 18 Girls
in Mumbai in 2006, the National Junior (under 20)
Girls in 2007 and now the World Schools Girls
Under 17 title. Her coach Dronacharya awardee
Raghunandan Gokhale hailed the 16 year old's unique
feat and proudly declared that she will 'surely become
Goa's first Woman Grandmaster in the days
to come'. Bhakti drew her last round with FIDE
Master Mohamed Ibrahim Khouri of the U.A.E.
to finish with 5.5 points ahead of Woman FIDE
Master Cheng Li Toh of Singapore and Angelique
Hattingh of South Africa.

Double World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana Furtado
added yet another Gold medal to her burgeoning
collection when she beat Clarice Yeoh of Singapore
to finish with 8 points. In the process the Dempo
Goodwill Ambassador edged out archrival two time
National Champion C.H. Meghna of Kerala
who finished second with 7.5 points. Dita Karenza of
Indonesia finished third in the Girls Under 9 section.

Asian Under 11 Gold Medallist Cyrus Perreira won his
second International medal when he secured third place
with a draw against Dastan Batuhan of Turkey. He also
bagged the Team Silver medal for India with 19.5 points
behind Turkey (20 points) and ahead of Singapore (17.5
points) in the Boys Under 11 Section.

Anirudh Bhat also added to the Goan medal kitty
with a Bronze medal when he beat Ryan Ow of
Singapore to finish with 6.5 points in the Boys
Under 9 Section. He thus becomes the second
Goan boy (after Cyrus Perreira) to win a medal at
the International level. He also helped the Indian
squad to win the Team Gold medal with 20.5 points
edging out Singapore (18.5 points) and Indonesia
(17.5 points).

Finally, Pranav Zantye won the Team Silver medal
in the Under 13 boys section when the Indian team
amassed 16 points. Singapore, the hosts, won Gold
here with 17 points and Turkey with 15 points bagged
the Bronze medal in the category.

Goa State Chess Association President Sameer
A. Salgaocar congratulated the Goan players for
their stellar performance. 'Considering there were
participants from Russia, Ukraine, China, Armenia
and Israel which are the traditional powerhouses of
chess, this is indeed a commendable performance
by the Goan contingent', he added.

Goans shine in Mangalore chess tourney

2008-07-27T23:46:00.000-07:00

Goan players put up a commendable
performance in the Second Mangalore
FIDE Rating Chess Championships
to win not less than four prizes in a
tightly contested field of 270 players.

The star of the show was Goa State Champion
Anurag Mhamal (ELO 2113) who finished
fifteenth in the prize list with eight out of a
possible eleven points. He defeated former
National 'B' Champ Nassir Wajih (ELO 2271)
and reputed coach International Master
Varughese Koshy (ELO 2283) in the
process. For his stellar show, Anurag will
be gaining 30 ELO rating points.

In the Veterans section, it was Goa State
Chess Association founder member and
present Joint Secretary P.P. Insulkar who
bagged the first prize. In the Under 11 Boys
section, the second prize went to Mohanan
Harikrishnan and in the Under 15 Girls section
Sukanya Chari bagged the second prize.

Ivana beats Meghna to take the sole lead!

2008-07-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

Double World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana
Furtado defeated archrival and National Under 9
Girls Champion C.H. Meghna of Kerala to
move into the sole lead with 4 points at the
end of the fourth round of the World Schools
Chess Championship being played in
Singapore. There are seven players who are
trailing Ivana with 3 points each and the event
could be still described as wide open.

In the Girls Under 9 section, the much awaited
clash between top seeded Ivana and second
seeded Meghna ended in a decisive victory for
the former. Whereas Ivana has two World Crowns
to her credit, Meghna has won two National
Championships. With this victory, Ivana will
reinforce the psychological edge that she has
over Meghna before they once again clash in
the World Youth Chess Championships to be
played in Vietnam in October. Dempo Goodwill
Ambassador Ivana next plays Dharsha Raja Jawahar
of Singapore in the 5th round.

National Junior Girls Champion Bhakti Kulkarni
was held to a draw by unfancied Zayed Ali Ahmed
of the U.A.E. The Woman FIDE Master and Monginis
Brand Ambassador will have to score heavily in the
remaining rounds for a podium finish in the Girls Under
17 section. Asian Schools Under 11 Gold Medallist Cyrus
Perriera beat Samuel Liu of Singapore to move into
the third spot with 3.5 points. He next faces top
seeded Colombian Candidate Master Joshua Ruiz in
the 5th round and if he wins this encounter he will
surely fancy his chances of winning the event!

In other action in the fourth round featuring Goan
players, Pranav Zantye defeated Aaron Tan of
Singapore to go to 3 points in the Under 13 section.
In the Under 9 section, Anirudh Bhat defeated
Jonathan Tay of Singapore to move into the second
spot with three and a half points.Both these kids
who are playing in an international tournament for
the very first time have a bright chance to finish among
the medals with 5 rounds to go in the event.

Ivana wins Silver, Bhakti wins Bronze in Iran!

2008-07-21T03:23:00.000-07:00

(Photo - National Junior Girls Champion
Bhakti Kulkarni in action in Iran)

Double Under 8 World Girls Champion
Ivana Furtado added yet another feather
in her cap by winning the Silver medal
in the Under 10 Girls section of the Asian
Youth Chess Championships which concluded
in Teheran, Iran today. Woman FIDE Master
and Chowgule College student Bhakti Kulkarni
also added a Bronze to the Goan kitty. Interestingly,
showing remarkable consistency, both the Goan
wondergirls have won a medal at the Asian level for
four years consecutively since New Delhi in
the year 2005!

The Dempo Goodwill Brand Ambassador Ivana
beat Iranian player Alijanzadeh Mohadeseh
in the final round to finish with six and a
half points. M. Mahalakshmi finished with
eight points for the Gold medal and G.K.
Monnisha bagged the bronze with six points.
Her coach Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan
Gokhale praised her 'fighting spirit and sheer
determination' while winning this medal.

Goa's Riya Sawant was unlucky to finish
fourth in the Girls Under 8 Section. She lost
her last round match to her Vietnamese
opponent Vu Thie Dieu Uyen and finished
just out of the medals tally. A draw in the last
round would have ensured her a Bronze medal.
Indian Tejaswini Sagar bagged the Silver medal
in this section behind Zhansaya Abdumalik of
Kazhakastan.

National Junior Girls Champion and Monginis
Brand Ambassador Bhakti Kulkarni was lucky to
finish third when she edged out Pon. N. Krithika
on a tiebreak to win the Bronze Medal in the Girls
Under 16 Section. Perhaps it was the strain of
playing her third tournament in a row which did not
allow her to perform upto expectations.

Ivana, who was recenlty awarded the Gulab award for the
best Sportsperson, will now travel to Singapore for
the World Schools Chess Championships. She
will be joined there by fellow Goans - Pranav
Zantye, Cyrus Perreira, Anirudh Bhat and Bhakti
Kulkarni.

Bhakti gains three ELO points in Benasque

2008-07-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Name BHAKTI Kulkarni
Title WFM
Starting rank 167
Rating national 0
Rating international 2166
Ratingperformance 2166
FIDE rtg +/- 3,0
Points 6
Rank 135
Federation IND
Ident-Number 0
Fide-ID 5019516

Rd. SNo Name RtgI RtgN FED Club/City Pts. Res. we w-we K rtg+/-
1 440 PALACIN CASAMAYOR Angel 1684 1631 ESP Ara 4,5 s 1 0,89 0,11 15 1,65
2 24 IM EDOUARD Romain 2508 0 FRA 8,0 w ½ 0,12 0,38 15 5,70
3 75 FM LANGROCK Hannes 2398 0 GER 6,0 s 0 0,21 -0,21 15 -3,15
4 311 GARCIA SAN MARTIN Alberto 1946 1841 ESP Eus 4,5 w 1 0,78 0,22 15 3,30
5 536 ORTIZ AMENOS Jose Luis 2043 2118 ESP Cat 5,0 s ½ 0,67 -0,17 15 -2,55
6 295 SALTERAIN GONZALEZ Galder 1966 1927 ESP Eus 4,5 w 1 0,76 0,24 15 3,60
7 78 SWAPNIL S Dhopade 2389 0 IND 6,5 w 0 0,22 -0,22 15 -3,30
8 253 DEVANGI Patankar 2028 0 IND 5,5 s 0 0,69 -0,69 15 -10,35
9 297 RIVAS CRESPO Alexander 1961 1964 ESP Can 4,5 w 1 0,76 0,24 15 3,60
10 262 PES MATEO Angel 2016 2039 ESP Ara 5,0 s 1 0,70 0,30 15 4,50

Riya, Ivana and Bhakti to play in Iran

2008-07-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

Three Goan girls will be part of
the Indian team which participates
in the Asian Youth Chess Championships
which take place from the 15th of July
till the 22nd of July in Teheran, Iran.
Whereas Riya Sawant will be playing
her very first international event in the Under
8 Girls section, double World Under 8
Girls Champion Ivana Furtado will be
participating in the Under 10 Girls category.
Dempo Goodwill Ambassador Ivana had won
the Gold medal in the Under 8 Girls section
last year in Al Ain, U.A.E.

National Junior Girls Champion and the
Monginis Brand Ambassador Woman FIDE
Master Bhakti Kulkarni will be competing in the Under 16
Girls section in which she had won the Silver
medal last year in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Bhakti considers Teheran 'lucky' as she won
Goa's first Gold medal in an international event
in the Under 14 Girls section at the same venue
in 2006. Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale
who coaches all the three youngsters will be
present with them throughout the duration of
the event in Teheran. He is confident of them putting
up a good display and returning with glory and
medals for Goa.

GSCA hails Dempo!

2008-07-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Goa State Chess Association hailed
Mr. Srinivas Dempo for naming Double
Under 8 Girls World Champion Ivana
Furtado as Goodwill Ambassador. 'Ivana is
a truly deserving candidate and she will
make proper use of the faith reposed in
her by the Dempo group' announced her
coach Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan
Gokhale. Ivana's next tournaments include
the Asian Youth Chess Championships in
Teheran and the World Schools Chess
Championships in Singapore.

GSCA President Salgaocar hoped that
'more corporates will come forward to
support upcoming Goan chess players'.
In the recent past, besides Dempo
group, Monginis and Borax Morarji have
supported the efforts of the young
developing stars. Hopefully, 'the trend
will continue as our players will
continue to make a mark on the national
and international scene', he added.
'We have other youngsters like Asian
Schools Under 11 Gold Medallist Cyrus
Perreira and State Champion Anurag Mhammal
who could also use some financial support,'
Salgaocar mentioned.

Ivana and Harikrishnan reign supreme

2008-07-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

(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

Borax Morarji announces sponsorship for Bhakti

2008-07-05T01:07:00.000-07:00

(Photo -Bhakti playing in Benasque, Spain)

Monginis Brand Ambassador Bhakti Kulkarni
received another boost to her chess career
when M/s Borax Morarji announced a
scholarship of Rupees One Lakh towards
her foreign travel. If Bhakti performs well during
the next few months, then this amount would be
enhanced substantially, it is understood.

National Junior Girls Champion Bhakti is presently
playing in Benasque, Spain. She drew with French
International Master Romain Edouard (ELO 2508)
in the second round. In a long drawn out ending
where Bhakti had the white pieces, she managed a
draw with perpetual check. This is the highest rated
player against which she has had an even result.
The Woman FIDE Master plays German FIDE Master
Hannes Langrock (ELO 2398) in the third round later today.

Bhakti's next tournaments include the Asian Youth
in Teheran, the World Schools in Singapore, the National
Women's 'A' Championship in New Delhi and
the World Youth Championships in Vietnam.
Her coach Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale
has expressed satisfaction with her progress.

Bhakti finishes fourth

2008-06-20T22:42:00.001-07:00

(Photo - Current national Junior Girls Champion Bhakti
Kulkarni being felicitated by Goa Chief Minister Digamber
Kamat in presence of AICF Vice President Sameer A.
Salgaocar)

Monginis Brand Ambassador and current National
Junior Girls Champion Bhakti Kulkarni finished
4th in the National Women's 'B' Championship
which concluded in Calicut. By virtue of this performance,
she qualified for the prestigious National 'A' Championship
for the second time in her career and this event will be
held in New Delhi in September this year.

Bhakti drew her last round game with WIM Padmini
Rout of Orissa and they both finished with 8 out of
a possible 11 points. First place was bagged by
WGM Eesha Karavade who drew her last round game
with Pon. Krithika of Tamil Nadu. This was the most hotly
contested National 'B' ever with as many as 5 Women
Grandmasters competing in a field of 113 players.

Bhakti will be gaining 27 ELO rating points for her efforts
and her performance is at the 2282 level which shows
that she can try to complete her Woman International
Master title during the latter course of the year.
AICF Vice President Salgaocar praised her performance
noting that 'Bhakti has come back to chess with a bang
after a 6 month hiatus in which she appeared for her
10th standard exams'. 'We, in the Goan chess fraternity,
are all very proud of her', he added.

Bhakti's coach, Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale
stated that this performance will instill in her 'tremendous
confidence for her upcoming tournaments'. The Woman
FIDE Master will next be playing in Spain in the 24th Sort
Open and in the "Villa de Benasque" tournaments before
she heads off to Teheran for the Asian Youth Chess
Championships.

GSCA to apply for clocks to AICF

2008-06-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Sameer A. Salgaocar, President of Goa
State Chess Association disclosed that
Goa State Chess Association will apply
to the All India Chess Federation to
purchase digital chess clocks at a
subsidised rate.

Under the new scheme, the Federation
can avail of clocks under the 75 percent
subsidy scheme and has applied for 1000
clocks. AICF will retain 200 clocks and
the balance clocks will be distributed to all
the member associations. 'Goa will try to
avail maximum clocks under this facility,'
Salgaocar said 'as we are a fledgeling
organisation and we want to ramp up our
logistics and infrastructure for successful
conduct of tournaments in the future'.

In another significant decision, the AICF
decided to strip last year's National Girls
Under 7 Champion N. Madhumita of Andhra
Pradesh of her title when she was found overage
in a subsequent Championship in New Delhi.
With this decision, the All India Chess
Federation has also decided to apply to SAI
for clearance for Goa's Riya Sawant who had
finished fourth for participation in the World
Youth Chess Championships in Vietnam.

Riya, will be only the third Goan player, after
Ivana Furtado and Bhakti Kulkarni to be selected
to represent the country in an international tournament.
Incidentally, Bhakti will be flying to Spain tomorrow
for participation in two Open events followed by a stint
in the Asian Youth Championships in Teheran where
she will be joined by double World Youth Girls Under 8
Champion Ivana Furtado.

Results of AICF elections for term 2008-2011

2008-06-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

(Photo - Manuel Aaron, Returning Officer, reading out the results
at the Annual General meeting on the 20th of June)
I. President
S.No.Name of the Candidate State
1. Mr.N.Srinivasan Tamil Nadu State Chess Association

II. Vice Presidents
S.No.Name of the Candidate State
1. Mr.A.Bakthavachalam Pondicherry State Chess Association
2. Mr. Ravindra M.Dongre Maharashtra Chess Association
3. Mr.Sameer Anil Salgaocar Goa State Chess Association
4. Mr.Pradeep Jain Haryana Chess Association
5. Mr.A.Narasimha Reddy Andhra Pradesh Chess Association
6. Dr.Kashmir Singh UP Chess Sports Association

III. Hon.Secretary
S.No.Name of the Candidate State
1. Mr.D.V.Sundar Tamil Nadu State Chess Association

IV. Hon.Treasurer
S.No. Name of the Candidate State
1. Mr.Bharat Singh Delhi Chess Association

V. Jt.Secretaries
S.No.Name of the Candidate State
1. Mr.Udayan Kanti Ghosh West Bengal Chess Association
2. Mr.N K Mishra All Jharkand Chess Association
3. Mr.Vipnesh Bhardwaj Chandigarh Chess Association
4. Mr.F.Anil Madhya Kshetra Shatranj Sangh
5. Mr. P. K Choudhuri All Tripura Chess Association
6. Mr. G.Bhasker Andaman Nicobar Chess Assn

Manuel Aaron
Returning Officer

Tragic loss

2008-05-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-07T18:42:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

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!

Sanjay and Avinash for FIDE Instructor Course

2008-04-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

(Photo - Executive Director SAG V.M. Prabhudesai, Assistant
Secretary (Programs) Navin Acharya, AICF Vice President
Sameer A. Salgaocar and GSCA Secretary Suhas Asnodkar
with the two SAG Coaches)

Sports Authority of Goa Coaches Sanjay Kavlekar (ELO 1908)
and Avinash Malvankar (ELO 1914) will leave shortly for Chennai to
attend the prestigious FIDE Instructor Course which is
being conducted by the All India Chess Federation. FIDE
Senior Trainer International Master Jovan Petronic of
Serbia and FIDE Master Peter Long of Malaysia will
be conducting this course from 30th April to 7th May.

AICF Vice President Sameer A. Salgaocar thanked
Sports Minister Manohar Azgaonkar and SAG
Executive Director V.M. Prabhudesai for clearing
the proposal to depute the coaches for this 'once
in a life time opportunity'. 'The unstinted support that we
have received from the Goa Government and SAG
has enabled chess to reach the heights that we are
at presently', he added.

Presently, there are no FIDE certified trainers in Goa
and this initiative by Sports Authority of Goa and the
Goa State Chess Association will be indeed a path
breaking initiative which will give long term benefits
to the chess students in the various schools of Goa.
Kavlekar and Malvankar, after attending the course
in Chennai, in turn can teach these methods
of training to other coaches in Goa and this will help
raise the standard of instruction in the State, it is
understood.

'Sanvordem will become a major chess centre'

2008-04-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

While praising the efforts of the upcoming Mir Sultan
Khan Chess Academy and especially highlighting
the outstanding work of GSCA Executive Member
Amrut Naik and SAG Coach Sanjay Kavlekar, chief
guest Dr. Peter Carvalho declared that Sanvordem
will soon emerge as a major chess centre in Goa.

Dr. Carvalho, the founder of Cortalim Chess Club, was
speaking at the Prize Distribution ceremony of the
State Subjunior Championship which concluded at the
Sarvodaya High School, Curchorem. He went on to
add that chess organisation entailed a lot of 'hard
work and discipline, and running a full fledged academy
was a tedious and time consuming process'. He noted
that after Vasco and subsequently Bambolim, it was the Sanvordem
clubs that were now conducting the maximum chess
tournaments in the state of Goa.

A laptop, digital chess clocks and sets were donated to the Academy
by Mata Mamata Sukhdata Pratisthan. AICF Vice President
Sameer A. Salgaocar, GSCA Secretary Suhas Asnodkar and
other Executive Members of the GSCA were also present on
the occasion.

Riya Sawant creates history

2008-04-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

Eight and a half years old Riya Sawant, who is a 2nd standard
student of St. Mary's High School, Mapusa created history
by becoming the youngest ever Subjunior Girls Champion in the
Goa State Subjunior Chess Championship which concluded
at the Sarvodaya High School, Curchorem today.

Riya, who is a student of V. Sivaswamy and a product of the
Bambolim Chess Club, finished the tourney with a maximum of 5
possible points by winning her fifth round game against Sukanya
Chari. The second and third places went to the top seeds Celiane
Carvalho and Nandini Saripalli who finished with 4 points each and
identical progressive scores. Celiane was adjudged second by virtue
of a coin toss. The fourth place went to unrated Sukanya Chari
who edged out Sonali Kerkar on a higher progressive score
although both finished with an identical score of 3.5 points.

In the Boys section, top seed Anurag Mhamal drew both his last two
games with Niraj Saripalli and Umang Kaisary. Nevertheless, he still
finished first with 6 points and completed a creditable hattrick of
victories in the same category. Second place went to Cyrus Perreira,
the Asian Schools Under 11 Gold Medallist, who finished with 5 and
a half points. Mohanan Harikrishnan, Niraj Saripalli and Umang Kaisary
finished in third to fifth places in that order.

Mrs. Jostna Saripalli and SAG coach Avinash Malvankar were the
Chief Arbiters for the event organised by the Mir Sultan Khan Chess
Academy. The prize money of Rs. 25,000/- was sponsored by Shreeji Sales
Corporation. The Chief Guest for the prize distribution ceremony
was Dr. Peter Carvalho, the founder of Cortalim Chess Club.

Last round results with the points tally in brackets -

Girls
Sukanya Chari (3.5 pts) lost to Riya Sawant (5 pts)
Celiane Carvalho (4 pts) beat Urvi Bandekar (3 pts)
Sampada Barve (3 pts) lost to Nandini Saripalli (4 pts)
Vidula Dempo (3 pts) beat Gauri Hadkonkar (2.5 pts)
Sonali Kerkar (3.5 pts) beat Dipashree Malvankar (2 pts)

Boys
Anurag Mhamal (6 pts) drew with Umang Kaisary (5 pts)
M. Harikrishnan (5.5 pts) drew with Cyrus Perreira (5.5 pts)
Rakshit Rai (4.5 pts) drew with Niraj Saripalli (5 pts)
Amod Kolwalkar (5 pts) beat Yeshitesh Shirodkar (4 pts)
Snehil Shetty (4 pts) lost to Anirudh bhat (5 pts)

Anurag, Riya in sole lead

2008-04-14T21:53:00.001-07:00

Goa State Champion Anurag Mhamal (ELO 2126)
wrested the sole lead with 5 points in the Boys section
after beating Asian Schools Under 11 Gold medallist
Cyrus Perreira (ELO 1873) in the 4th round of the
State Subjunior Boys Championship being played
at the Sarvodaya High School, Curchorem.

Anurag encountered a variation of the Queen's Gambit
Accepted and displayed his positional superiority to
win the resulting endgame in 56 hard fought moves.
There are 5 players following Anurag on 4 points each -
Cyrus, Niraj Saripalli (ELO 1952), M. Harikrishnan
(ELO 1744), Rakshit Rai (ELO 1659) and unrated
State Under 9 Champion Anirudh Bhat. If Niraj, who
has white pieces against Anurag in the 6th round,
can pull off an upset, the tournament is thrown wide
open. A victory for Anurag however, clinches his third
successive Subjunior crown.

In the Girls section, Riya Sawant (ELO 1430) beat
Sampada Barve (ELO 1651) to record her second upset
of the day and moved into the sole lead with 4 points.
Riya won after 59 moves in the Cambridge Springs
Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined opening.
She is followed by unrated Sukanya Chari who was lucky to
draw her fourth round game with Gauri Hadkonkar after
blundering early in the game. The fifth and final round sees
Riya pitted against Sukanya and even a draw will see
Riya through as the Champion.

There is a total prize fund of Rs. 25,000 for both the sections
and the top four in each category will represent Goa in the
upcoming National Subjunior Championships to be held
later this year in Mangalore.

Tomorrow's crucial games are as follows -

Boys (penultimate round)
Niraj Saripalli (4 pts) vs. Anurag Mhamal (5 pts)
Cyrus Perreira (4 pts) vs. Rakshit Rai (4 pts)
Anirudh Bhat (4 pts) vs. M. Harikrishnan (4 pts)
Umang Kaisary (3.5 pts) vs. Pranav Zantye (3.5 pts)

Girls (final round) -
Sukanya Chari (3.5 pts) vs. Riya Sawant (4 pts)
Celiane Carvalho (3 pts) vs. Urvi Bandodkar (3 pts)
Sampada Barve (3 pts) vs. Nandini Saripalli (3 pts)
Vidula Dempo (2 pts) vs. Gauri Hadkonkar (2.5 pts)

Upsets galore in 3rd round of State Subjunior Girls

2008-04-14T03:20:00.000-07:00

Both the top two seeds - Celiane Carvalho (ELO 1881)
and Nandini Saripalli (ELO 1844) - surprisingly lost to their
lesser fancied rivals in the hard fought third round
of the State Subjunior Girls Championship
being played at the Sarvodaya High School,
Curchorem.

Riya Sawant (ELO 1430), who had stood fourth
in the National Under 7 Championship in Lucknow,
found herself a pawn down after the opening in her
game against Celiane. Nevertheless, Riya unleashed
a fierce attack with her Queen, Rook and Bishop against
Celiane's King. In the ensuing melee, Celiane lost both
material and the game when Riya found all the correct
moves in a sterling display.

On the second board, unrated Sukanya Chari upset
the calculations of second seeded Nandini Saripalli
in a positional encounter. Sukanya had connected
'a' and 'b' passed pawns in the endgame when Nandini
had to finally concede the game. Riya and Sukanya are
joined in the lead by Sampada Barve (ELO 1651) who
beat unrated Apurva Naik. With just two rounds to go, any
of these three girls can win the Championship.

In the boys section, all the fancied players won their
games without much trouble. State Champion Anurag
Mhamal (ELO 2126) beat Pranav Zantye (ELO 1774)
to set up a clash with Asian Schools Under 11 Gold
medallist Cyrus Perreira (ELO 1873) in the 5th round.
Anurag, who has won this tournament twice before,
will face a stiff test from Cyrus, who beat upcoming
Amod Kolwalkar to notch his fourth consecutive
victory in the tournament.

The tournament is being organised by the Mir Sultan Khan
Chess Academy, Sanvordem and concludes on the 15th of April.

Important results

Boys - Pranav Zantye (3 pts) lost to Anurag Mhamal (4 pts)
Cyrus Perreira (4 pts) beat Amod Kolwalkar (3 pts)
Rakshit Rai (3.5 pts) beat Snehil Shetty (2.5 pts)
Niraj Saripalli (3 pts) beat Umang Kaisary (2.5 pts)
M. Harikrishnan (3 pts) beat Sriraj Bakhle (2 pts)

Girls - Celiane Carvalho (2 pts) lost to Riya Sawant (3 pts)
Sukanya Chari (3 pts) beat Nandini Saripalli (2 pts)
Sampada Barve (3 pts) beat Apurva Naik (2 pts)
Mithali Manohar (1 pt) lost to Gauri Hadkonkar (2 pts)
Urvi Bandekar (2 pts) beat Sayani Kerkar (1 pt)

41 Goan Players in April FIDE List

2008-04-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

Some of the FIDE elo ratings of the
Goan players are as follows (Mandar has
just started playing) -

1. T.S. Venkataraman 2247
2. Bhakti Kulkarni 2166
3. Kartik Muchandi 2159
4. Anurag Mhamal 2126
5. Charudatta Desai 2010
6. Mandar Tahmankar 2106
7. Swapnil Hobble 2105
8. Suhas Asnodkar 2031
9. Shubham Pinge 2012
10. Sumit Asnodkar 1999
11. Wilson Cruz 1994
12. P.M. Kantak 1990
13. Vasanth Naik 1969
14. P.P. Insulkar 1963
15. Standrik Colaso 1957
16. Manmesh Naik 1953
17. Niraj Saripalli 1952
18. A. Malvankar 1914
19. Sanjay Kavlekar 1908
20. Umang Kaisary 1882
21. Celianne Carvalho 1881
22. Cyrus Perreira 1873
23. Keegan Furtado 1870
24. Prasanna Swamy 1866
25. Amogh S. Namshiker 1859
26. Shradha Mohanan 1857
27. Ivana Furtado 1850
28. Nandhini Saripalli 1844
29. Agasti Tari 1841
30. V. Siva Swamy 1820
31. Pranav Zantye 1774
32. Anuradha Chavan 1766
33. Brahmanand Kamat 1747
34. M. Harikrishnan 1744
35. Gautam Tari 1717
36. Chinmay Patil 1711
37. Rishubh Naik 1708
38. Rakshith Rai 1659
39. Sampada Barve 1651
40. Jessica Perreira 1490
41. Riya Sawant 1430

Ivana leads largest Goan team for Nationals

2008-04-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

Double World Under 8 Girls Champion
Ivana Furtado leads the largest ever squad
of twenty participants fielded by Goa
in the National Under Nine Chess
Championships which gets underway at the
Bapu Samaj Seva Kendra in New Delhi in
approximately a fortnight's time.

Ivana, who has the World and Asian Girls
titles under her belt, will try to claim the
National Championship for the first time.
Her best ever finish was third in the National
Under 7 Championships held in Aurangabad.
Her coach Raghunandan Gokhale has expressed
confidence that Ivana will achieve her target in
this event. Also in the hunt for medals are the two
girls - Gauri Hadkonkar and Riya Sawant - who
had both performed creditably in last year's
edition at Bangalore.

The team comprising 5 official entries and 15
donor entries is as follows -

Girls (Ivana Furtado, Gauri Hadkonkar, Riya
Sawant, Sonali Bandekar, Shivangi Behki,
Urvi Bandekar, Liesel Braganza and Apoorva
Naik).

Boys (Anirudh Bhat, Ritviz Parab, Saish
Bandodkar, Snehil Shetty, Sumukh Pinge,
Nitesh Berulkar, Rishubh Naik, Tatvesh Sawant,
Josiah Rebello, Kapil Pavse, Anant Prabhudesai
and Girish Kulkarni).

GSCA applauds coaching scheme (update)

2008-04-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

The inclusion of Super Grandmaster Sasikiran
as one of those who volunteered to give coaching
under the AICF Scheme bears testimony to the fact
that this scheme will be a huge success in the
future. Altogether, four Grandmasters have come
forward to coach the young kids and that speaks
volumes of the goodwill that the AICF enjoys among
the player fraternity.

Disgruntled elements will always want to cast
aspersions. Notwithstanding that, the present
dispensation is marching from strength to strength.
We have won the Unified World Championship, the
Asian Team Championship, the Under 16 World Olympiad
as well as other numerous laurels for our country
in the past three years. Do we need to remind people
of the past AICF regime wherein out of frustration,
the players were finally forced to revolt under the
banner of the CPAI? That group wanted to take away
10 percent of the prize money and the present AICF
has reduced the registration fee by 50 percent. Is this
stark contrast not enough to show the difference between
the intentions of the two bodies?

Goan chess has emerged as a leading force under the
new dispensation and we pray that the good relations
between the AICF and the GSCA are maintained if not
strengthened with the passing of time. The allocation
of the National 'B' to Goa for the first time in the
history of the GSCA shows the confidence that it enjoys
within the echelons of the AICF body.

In the March 9th Executive Body meeting of the GSCA,
the following resolution was passed unanimously -

RESOLUTION

The Executive Body of the Goa State Chess Association
distances itself from the views of Mr. Shrikant Barve.
Whatever he has said is in his individual capacity.
The GSCA on the other hand congratulates the All India
Chess Federation for having come out with a scheme
which will make quality coaching affordable to even
the financially weak chess players. Everyone is not
superrich to bear the exorbitant rates charged by some
unrated coaches nowadays and here the AICF is providing
Grandmaster and International Master coaching at
affordable rates. We have confirmed information
from the AICF that some GMs are ready to even come
and coach for free. So what is the problem as far
as Mr. Barve is concerned?

Simultaneously, the GSCA would like to know where
the figure of 4-5 crores mentioned by Mr. Barve for
annual income of the AICF has been arrived at. We are
getting the Annual balance sheets of the AICF and the
figure is nowhere close to that mentioned in the newspaper.
Can Mr. Barve clarify this point please or else let
him publish an apology to the AICF?

A healthy relationship between the GSCA and the AICF
will only benefit the Goan chess fraternity. We are free
to voice our opinion whenever we want in a healthy democracy,
but as members of the Goa State Chess Association it is our
duty to first bring it up within the Association.
GSCA is of the unanimous opinion that chess in Goa
has been harmed by Mr. Barve's comments. In future,
whatever statements he makes, GSCA will not have
anything to do with it.

Media Committee for National 'B'

2008-04-07T23:34:00.000-07:00

It was decided at the GSCA Executive
Committee meeting held at Bambolim on
the 6th of April that Shri Sharadchandra
Naik would be the Chairman of the Media
Committee for the Monginis National 'B'
Chess Championships to be held
from 15th to the 25th of September, 2008.

Shri Sharadchandra Naik is the President
of the Sports Journalists Association of
Goa (SJAG) and is also the UNI Correspondent
for Goa. AICF Vice President Sameer A.
Salgaocar expressed his delight that Shri
Naik has agreed to head the committee and
that itself was a 'big boost for the prospects
of the tournament'.

The list of members is as follows -

Sharadchandra Naik (Chairman)
Kishor Bandekar
V. Balakrishnan
Sachin Arolkar
Suhas Asnodkar
Raman Saripalle
Sameer A. Salgaocar

Seshadri is Chief Arbiter for the Monginis 'B'

2008-03-31T05:46:00.000-07:00

International Arbiter and reputed chess
author Shri. K. R. Seshadri will be the Chief
Arbiter at the Monginis 46th National 'B'
Chess Championships which will be held
in Goa from the 15th of September.

Seshadri, who is also a Russian scholar,
has written numerous books on chess
including

1. Sicilian Defence 1001 Games
2. Decoying
3. Giuoco Piano
4. Lessons In Chess Strategy
5. Grunfeld Defence
6. Back Rank Weakness

He is also the founder of the Times Chess
Academy which is located at Number 3,
M K Bharathi Street, H L Colony
Pammal, Chennai 600075.

Shri. Balaraman and Shri. R. Srivatsan
will be the deputy arbiters in the same
tournament which is expected to attract
a record number of participants. This year's
edition will be part of the 30th Anniversary
celebrations of the Goa State Chess
Association.

AICF Gives Boost For Training

2008-03-27T04:45:00.000-07:00

In a big boost for training our young Indian chess stars, the All India Chess Federation announced prominent names led by Grand Master Krishnan Sasikiran of Chennai as coaches during the AICF Meeting that took place here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on March 27.

Other players who have agreed to train our players for a week to ten days in a year include GM Dibyendu Barua (Ben), GM R.B. Ramesh, GM J. Deepan Chakkaravarthy, IM Manuel Aaron (all TN), IM Vishal Sareen (Del), IM Lanka Ravi (AP), IM Chandrashekar Gokhale (Mah), IM Neeraj Mishra (Jha), Raghunandan Gokhale (Mah), V. Kameswaran, WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy (both TN), WIM Mrunalini Kunte (Mah), FM K.Visweswaran (TN), Praful Zaveri (Mah), Kashinath Mangal (Mah), T. Purushotaman (AP), S.S. Gaikwad (Mah), Nitin (Cha).

FIDE Master K.Visweswaran, 33, of Chennai has been appointed AICF's Coaching Co-Ordinator. Double IM Norm holder, Visweswaran shot into limelight when he trained the Indian Youth Team to a Gold Medal triumph in the World Youth Olympiad at Singapore last year.

Pocket Expenses Offered

In another significant move, the AICF offered to pay Pocket Expenses of USD 10 (about Rs.400) per player per day for official players when they represent India in Asian and World Championships. However, this will not be applicable for players who get allowances from other sources or their employers

Ban Partially Lifted

The AICF Meetings decided to partially lift the ban on Y.V.K. Chakravarthy of Andhra Pradesh. He can now play in all "Open" tournaments. However, his ban on "all" age group events will continue. He will not be eligible for age group prizes offered in Open tournaments.

The AICF also decided to strip the medals of all players who have found overage in the National Chess Championship and also in the Commonwealth chess championship.

In future, M. Satvik of Karnataka would not be considered for overseas events as a "donor entry".

Shrikant Barve of Goa has been suspended by the AICF from all chess activities pending inquiry.

The AICF Meeting with its President N.Srinivasan in chair was well attended.

Cyrus to play in Singapore

2008-03-23T02:16:00.000-07:00

Under 11 Asian Schools Gold Medallist Cyrus Perreira
will be participating in the 4th World Schools Chess
Championships to be held in Singapore from 22nd to
31st July, 2008. These competitions will be organized
by FIDE, International School Chess Union, Singapore
Chess Federation and Asean Chess Academy. The
tournaments will be in the OPEN U7 U9, U11, U13,
U15, U17 /GIRLS U7 U9, U11, U13, U17 categories.

Cyrus is the first (and only) Goan boy to win a
medal in the sphere of International chess. He
also won the first place in the Under 9 section
of the Ranjit Patkar Memorial FIDE All India
Tournament which was held in Karwar in May, 2006.
He later stood first in the Under 9 section of the
Sangli Open in November the same year. His best
finish in the Nationals was 5th in the National
Under 9 Championships in Solapur in December, 2006.

Cyrus will also be participating in Thrissur next
month as a part of his preparations. If he can win
a medal in Singapore, it will be the 'icing on the
cake' as far as the AICF Vice President Salgaocar
is concerned. A grand felicitation of Cyrus is
also planned during the State Subjunior Championship
to be held at Mir Sultan Khan Academy, Sanvordem,
in the middle of next month.

Cyrus' favourite players are Bobby Fischer and
Larry Christiansen, both of the United States of
America. He is an accomplished piano player as well
and is presently undergoing training with reputed
coach Akash Thakur of Nagpur.

For other kids interested in participating the
website address is the following -

http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1613

GSCA Website launched by Chief Minister

2008-03-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

The official Goa State Chess Association website
was inaugurated by the Chief Minister Shri Digamber
Kamat today in the presence of AICF Vice President
Sameer A. Salgaocar and GSCA Press Officer Raman
Saripalle. This was part of the 30th Anniversary
celebrations of the GSCA.The internet address is
www.goachess.com and the designer is Dinesh Purohit
who is an accomplished web designer and
has created several sites before this one. He was ably
assisted in his efforts by Tanay Kaisary and M.R. Narasapur
who helped in compilation of the data.

The Chief Minister complimented the Association for
the 'rapid strides of the Goan players in national
and international competitions'. He also wished the
GSCA success for the upcoming events including the
prestigious Monginis National 'B' Championship to be
held in the month of September. He assured the
Association that the Goa Government will continue the
support extended to it during the recent past so that
Goan players will 'extend their victory march and bring
more laurels to their state and the country'.

AICF Secretary Shri D.V. Sundar also congratulated the
Association for the website and said that 'this would
go a long way in effective communication'. AICF Vice
President Salgaocar added that this would be a 'nice way
for the world to keep in touch with Goan chess'. The
website will be updated continuously to reflect the
efforts of the Goan players as they participate in National
and International tournaments.

Any comments/suggestions as regarding the website
can be addressed by email to the either the GSCA Press
Officer Raman Saripalle at gsca.press@gmail.com or the
Website Development Officer Tanay Kaisary (9422443396)
and the same will be incorporated after due discussion.

Gautam Tari latest Goan entrant in FIDE List, Bhakti and Anurag gain

2008-03-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

Indian chess fans have reason to cheer as
World Champion Viswanathan Anand is all
set to regain the sole numero uno spot
atop the FIDE rankings when the list is
released on April 1st. Anand was tied with
arch rival Kramnik at 2799 in the January list.
However, his performances have boosted him
back over the 2800 mark to 2803, Kramnik's
indifferent performance has seen him lose 11
Elo points and he will now be rated at 2788.

Among the Goans, National Junior Girls Champion
Bhakti Kulkarni will gain 2 Elo points to reach
2166.The Monginis Brand Ambassador and Women
FIDE Master remains Goa's highest rated active player
and is closely followed by Anurag Mhamal at 2126.
Anurag's gains have been largely due to his superb
performance at the Parsvanath Open tournament
where he narrowly missed his first International
Master norm but nevertheless gained valuable rating
points in that tournament. He will try to gain some
more points in the upcoming period when he plays
in the Thrissur FIDE Open and the Mumbai GM Open
along with statemates Umang Kaisary (Elo 1882) and
Mohanan Harikrishnan (Elo 1744).

Gautam Tari is the latest Goan entrant into the FIDE list
and should have an initial FIDE rating of 1717 based on
his performances in the Mangalore FIDE Open and
the Suraj Rating tournament in December 2007. Riya Sawant
and Rishubh Naik have also completed successfully
their ratings and join him in the April rating list.

Happy Birthday Kooka!

2008-03-16T00:44:00.000-07:00

We wish that you complete a grand hattrick at
the World Youth Chess Championships in
Vietnam this year!! -

from the entire Goan chess fraternity.

AICF recommends Goan chess stars for Cash awards

2008-03-15T00:01:00.001-07:00

Two time World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana
Maria Furtado and National Junior Girls Champion
Bhakti Kulkarni have been recommended for
cash awards totalling Rs. 190,000/- to the
Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs for performances
in the year 2007 by the All India Chess Federation as
per the press release on the official AICF website.

Monginis Brand Ambassador Bhakti Kulkarni
will be eligible for Rs. 40,000/- for the silver medal
which she won in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Ivana will
be richer by Rs. 100,000/- for the Gold medal in the
World Youth in Turkey and Rs. 50,000/- for the Gold
medal in the Asian Youth in Al Ain, U.A.E. Their coach
Raghunandan Gokhale, India's first Dronacharya awardee,
will also get coaching awards for their performances as well
as for the two Bronze medals of Shalmali Gagare (in Asian
and World) and Gold Medal of Shardul Gagare in the Asian
Youth Championships.

This run of success started after both the girls stood
third in the national championships in their respective
categories in 2005. As per the new AICF dispensation
and thanks to the confidence they enjoyed with the Ministry,
there were three entries sent officially for both the Asian Youth
and the World Youth and that is where the Goan kids managed
to capitalise. The previous AICF body would generally send
only the first placed player in the Nationals to the World Youth
and only the second to the Asian Youth. In this method,
the third place never figured in the teams for official
participation.

'This year, we will apply for even more spots,' said the
AICF Vice President Sameer A. Salgaocar and that way
'there is a chance that 4th placed Harikrishnan can participate
as a selected player in the World Youth and Asian Youth in
the year 2008 itself'. The previous performance of the Indian
kids should stand them in good stead when the proposal is
put up to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs and we
should all cross our fingers for young Harikrishnan!

Cyrus, Anurag to be felicitated

2008-03-14T02:19:00.000-07:00

Goa State Champion Anurag Mhamal and Asian Schools
Under 11 Gold Medallist Cyrus Perreira will be
felicitated during the upcoming Goa State
Subjunior (Under 15) Chess Championship
which will be organised at the Mir Sultan Khan Chess
Academy, Sanvordem in the near future.

In January, Anurag (ELO 2106) registered Goa's best ever
rating performance at the Parsvanath Open Chess
Championships where he managed to draw with 4
International Masters besides beating a couple of
top rated players. He was also awarded the 'Outstanding
Player Award' by GENO and the Sports Journalists
Association of Goa in 2007. Anurag's next tournaments include
the FIDE Open Rating tournament in Thrissur in April
and the very strong International Grandmaster tournament
in Mumbai in the month of May. His Goan statemates Umang
Kaisary and Niraj Saripalle will join him in participating
in both these events.

The first Goan boy to win an international medal Cyrus
Perreira will also be felicitated simultaneously. Cyrus
(ELO 1870) won the Gold Medal at the Under 11
section of the Asian Schools Chess Championships
held in Sri Lanka in January this year. Both the kids
are coached by Akash Thakur of Nagpur, widely
considered one of the outstanding coaches in India.
When contacted, Akash mentioned that both the
players would 'go on to win greater laurels for both
Goa and the country'.

AICF Vice President Sameer A. Salgaocar mentioned that
there has been renewed interest among corporates to sponsor
upcoming chess players in Goa such as Cyrus and Anurag.
Presently, Woman FIDE Master and reigning National Junior
Girls Champion is the Brand Ambassador for Monginis,
a leading confectionary manufacturer in India. 'We have also
received tremendous support from the Sports Authority of
Goa and hopefully this trend will continue', Salgaocar
stated.

Monginis to sponsor National 'B' Chess Championships

2008-03-01T01:13:00.000-08:00

M/s Monginis Limited has come forward to sponsor the
National 'B' Chess Championships to be held in Goa
in the month of September this year. Besides this, the
firm has shown keen interest to support one national
tournament in chess every year, disclosed Goa State
Chess Association President Sameer A. Salgaocar.
Chess, havingbrought many laurels to Goa and India,
is now attracting tremendous interest both among the
sponsors and corporates in the state.

Salgaocar praised Monginis for having been generous
in their support. He mentioned that Bhakti Kulkarni, who
is the current National Junior girls champion, has also
been selected as the brand ambassador by the company.
Bhakti, has a busy schedule this year after her 10th standard
exams and will play 10 international tournaments subsequently.
'As young chessplayers find more financial support, it frees
them to focus on the game and bring even more glory
to the state and the nation', Salgaocar added.

The National 'B' Championships is also receiving tremendous
response from chessplayers all over the country. This year's
edition will see top class Grandmasters, International Masters
and Women Grandmasters (many for the very first time)
playing in Goa. Having been declared as a norm event by the
AICF, this tournament will attract a record number of entries.
Most of the games will be covered live on the internet and this
will generate more publicity and hype for this prestigious event.
'Our children will get tremendous exposure by testing their wits
against India's strongest players and many will get a chance to
get their FIDE international ratings', Salgaocar mentioned.

Ivana completes hattrick, Anirudh first in Boys!

2008-02-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

Double World Under 8 Champion Ivana Furtado
created another record by winning the Goa Under 9
Girls category for the third consecutive time. In the
last round which was played at the BPS Club Margao,
she beat Gauri Hadkonkar to finish with
a perfect score of 5 out 5 possible points. Gauri
had to remain content with the second place in this
keenly contested event.

Ivana was felicitated on the occasion by reputed
table tennis coach Subodh Shevde and presented a
cash award as well. She will now represent Goa along
with 4 other girls - Gauri Hadkonkar (4 pts), Riya Sawant (4 pts),
Saloni Bandekar (4 pts) and Sakshi Prabhu (3 pts) -
in the upcoming National Under 9 Girls Chess
Championship to be played in New Delhi from the 28th
of April. Riya Sawant, who stood in the top 10 in two National
Championships in the same year, was also felicitated at
the prize distribution and given a cash award.

In the Boys section, it was Anirudh Bhat of Margao with 6 points who
stood first after drawing with Ritviz Parab in the crucial last round.
Anirudh built up a strong position and actually was slightly
better when Ritviz offered him a draw. He gleefully accepted
as he knew that half a point would suffice to give him the
title. The boys team that will represent Goa in the
upcoming Nationals includes Anirudh Bhat, Ritviz Parab (5.5 pts),
Saish Bandodkar (5.5 pts) and Snehil Shetty (5 pts).

The tournament was jointly organised by the Curchorem Chess
Club and BPS Sports Club. Santosh George, who is the Secretary
of BPS Sports Club, was the Chief Guest for the Prize Distribution.
Dattaram Pinge and Avinash Malvankar were the chief arbiters
and Standrik Colaco did the pairings. Incidentally, both the winners -
Ivana and Anirudh - are being coached by Dronacharya awardee
Raghunandan Gokhale.

Anurag notches best ever Goan rating performance!

2008-01-20T04:39:00.000-08:00

Goa State Champion Anurag Mhamal
gave a sterling display at the Parsvanath
Chess Championships which concluded today
at the Modern School, New Delhi. In the process
he notched up his best ever rating performance
of 2342 and also increased his FIDE rating by
a whopping 35 points. With this performance Anurag
also eclipsed the best ever Goan performance of 2328
posted by National Junior Champion Bhakti Kulkarni
in the Commonwealth Chess Championships in Mumbai
in 2006.

Anurag finished with 6 out of a possible 10 points
and averaged a 50 percent score against rated
players with 4 out of 8. What is indeed significant
was that he could manage to hold FOUR International
Masters to a draw - Roktim Bandyopadhyay (ELO 2373),
P. Konguvel (ELO 2394), Saptarshi Roy (ELO 2404)
and Asian Junior Champion P. Karthikeyan (ELO 2327).
Anurag also beat P. Sarvanakrishnan (ELO 2243) and
reputed coach Gurpreet Pal Singh (ELO 2292).

GSCA President Salgaocar hailed the efforts of Anurag
stating that this shows that Mhamal is truly an "International
Master in the making". All the efforts of his parents and coach
Akash Thakur have borne rich dividends he mentioned in his
congratulatory message to the young Champion.

The best ever Goan performances now stand as follows -

1. Parsvanath Open, January 2008 - 2342 Anurag Mhamal (8 games)
2. Commonwealth, November 2006 - 2328 Bhakti Kulkarni (9 games)
3. National Junior Girls 2007 - 2220 Bhakti Kulkarni (10 games)
4. National B 2006 - 2203 Anurag Mhamal (12 games)
5. Sangli, May 2007 - 2176 Anurag Mhamal (8 games)
6. Sangli, May 2005- 2175 Bhakti Kulkarni (7 games)
7. Rochess, December 2006 - 2162 Anurag Mhamal (7 games)
8. Sangli, December 2006 - 2157 Anurag Mhamal (8 games)
9. Mangalore 2007 - 2093 Umang Kaisary (7 games)

Cyrus' and Ivana's return

2008-01-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

(Photo of the two Gold medallists Ivana Furtado and Cyrus Perreira on their return to Goa with the GSCA Officials)

2008 - Golden start for Goa!

2008-01-09T01:33:00.000-08:00

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!

Bhakti presented cheque of 2.30 lakhs

2008-01-08T10:12:00.001-08:00

(Photo - Bhakti being presented a cheque by the Hon'ble Sports
Minister in presence of Executive Director, S.A.G. and G.S.C.A.
President)

National Junior Girls Champion and Woman FIDE Master
Bhakti Kulkarni was presented a cheque of Rs. 2.30
lakhs by the Sports Minister Manohar Azgaonkar
in a function in Margao, today.

Bhakti received the amount towards various performances
in the past at the International and National level. She
enjoys the distinction of being Goa's first titled player
as well as the youngest three time consecutive winner of
the Goa State Championship.

President of Goa State Chess Association Salgaocar praised the role
of the Goa Chief Minister, Sports Minister, Sports Authority of Goa
and especially Executive Director (S.A.G.) V.M. Prabhudesai in getting
the amount released in time. 'Bhakti is at a critical point in
her chess career', he stated adding that this amount
'will go a long way in securing her financial security
while she pursues her chess career further'.

In the latest FIDE rating list, Bhakti's rating has shot up considerably.
A spate of international tournaments await her, especially after she
completes her tenth standard exams in April. She is being coached
presently by India's first Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale.
Let us hope that in 2008, she can continue to earn more laurels for
both Goa and India!

Goans improve their ratings in January 2008 FIDE list!

2007-12-29T19:35:00.000-08:00

Goans improved their ratings considerably in the January
FIDE Ratings list thanks to their participation in various
National championships throughout the country. Woman FIDE Master
and WGM Norm Holder Bhakti Kulkarni gained 52 points after an excellent
performance in the National Junior Championship in Nagpur
which she won with a round to spare and by a margin of 2
points after going unbeaten in 11 rounds.

State Champion Anurag Mhamal overtook Swapnil Hobble
after a good performance in the National Subjunior Championship
in Chennai where he stood twelfth. Also gaining was Cyrus Perreira
who garnered 25 points from an impressive display in the National
Under 11 in Calicut and Mohanan Harikrishnan who gained 22
points after standing 4th in the National Under 9 Championships
in Bangalore.

In the year 2008, we expect to see a lot more Goans rated
with the National 'B' to be held in Goa and since it is 13 rounds, there
will be a golden opportunity for the upcoming Goan players to get
their initial FIDE rating with the home field advantage!

Some of the important ratings of the active players are as follows -

Bhakti Kulkarni 2164 (+52)
Anurag Mhamal 2106 (+14)
Swapnil Hobble 2105
Suhas Asnodkar 2031
Shubham Pinge 2012
Vasanth Naik 2002
Sumit Asnodkar 1999
P.M. Kantak 1990
P.P. Insulkar 1963
Standrik Colaso 1957
Manmesh Naik 1953
Niraj Saripalli 1952 (-15)
Sanjay Kavlekar 1947
Celianne Carvalho 1926
A. Malwankar 1914
Umang Kaisary 1889
Prasanna Swamy 1884
Cyrus Perreira 1870 (+25)
Keegan Furtado 1870
Amogh S. Namshiker 1859
Shradha Mohanan 1857
Nandhini Saripalli 1849 (-27)
Agasti Tari 1845 (-30)
Ivana Furtado 1834
V. Siva Swamy 1820
Pranav Zantye 1774 (-21)
Anuradha Chavan 1766
M. Harikrishnan 1752 (+22)
Brahmanand Kamat 1747
Chinmay Patil 1698 (-27)
Rakshith Rai 1659 (+3)
Sampada Barve 1651

Cash award for Ivana

2007-12-27T23:16:00.000-08:00

Goanetters in Toronto today presented a cheque
for Rs 20,000 to Ivana Maria Furtado for winning
the World Under-8 chess event in Turkey recently.
Ivana retained the crown for the second successive year.

The award was presented by Mr Bosco D’Mello,
vice-president, at a function to mark the international
year end meet of Goanetters at Mira Mar.

Fr Ariosto Coelho, Mr Mariano A Pereira, Mr Eustaquio
Santimano, Mr Marlon Menezes, Mr Roy Pimento, Mr Cipriano
Fernandes, Mr Rajan Parrikar, Mr Jerry Fernandes,
Ms Ana Maria Goswami, Ms Melinda Powel, Mr George Pinto,
Mr Vivek Menezes, Mr Nacimento Caldeira, Mr Cecil Pinto
were among those present.

Mr Eli Furtado spoke and Ivana played simultaneously
with 6 youngsters.

Wilson tops Margao tourney

2007-12-24T19:52:00.000-08:00

Wilson Cruz won the all-Goa open chess tournament 2007,
organised by Margao Chess and Rotary Club of Margao at
Rotary hall, Margao. In the final round, Wilson pipped
young Niraj Saripalli, who finished second, to score
8 points from 9 closely contested rounds.

Cyrus Pereira upset Nandini Saripalli to claimed third
spot. Special prizes in age group categories were awarded
to - Vipul Kulkarni and Sawant Riya (U-12), Akshay Deulkar
and Bhakti Naik (U-15), Anirudh Bhat and Gauri
Hadkonkar (U-8).

Mr Avdhoot Kare, president of Rotary Club of Margao,
Mr Shirish Naik, secretary and Mr Ashesh Keni gave
away the prizes

National 'B' in Goa will be a pivotal event - AICF

2007-12-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

All India Chess Federation's (AICF's) decision of
giving status of GM norm for the National 'B' championship
to be held at Goa in June next is considered as a pivotal step
in the important process of having more Indian Grandmasters.
AICF's central council meeting here has made good use of
the International Federation's (FIDE) ruling by giving
GM norm for National 'B' tournaments. Hitherto, only
National 'A' was considered as GM norm tournament.

FIDE allows its national affiliates to have any one
of the domestic championships under GM norm regulations
without the mandatory foreign players' participation.
"It is a right step in the direction of giving scope
to a larger number of players to achieve the vital GM
(or IM) norm and it would help India have more than the
present 17 GMs in a shorter time," D V Sundar,
Secretary, AICF, said.

"I am delighted and honoured that AICF has chosen Goa
as the site for the first norm version of the National 'B'"
was the reaction of GSCA President Sameer A. Salgaocar,
who also happens to be Vice President of the AICF and attended
the crucial meeting in Chennai. "We will take all the steps
necessary to make it a show piece event", he added.

The meeting also decided the qualification criteria for
the National 'A' championship (a 14-player event from 2008).
The top 11 finishers in National 'B' (to be held in Chennai
from February 3 to 16, 2008) and three top seeded players
of National 'A' would be eligible to compete in 2008 National 'A'.

In 2005, the system had 22 players competing in all-play-all
format. The players' association requested for a change
since it was taking about 25 days to finish the event.
Consequently, the National Women 'B' would be a 12-player
event with nine qualifying from National 'B' and three seeded
stars from National Women 'A'. Players with highest FIDE ratings
(five each of men and women) would be allowed to represent
India in the Chess Olympiads.

For the 2008 Dresden Olympiad, the AICF has decided the FIDE April
ratings list as criteria for selection.

Gokhale Sir's felicitation kicks off Anniversary year!

2007-12-21T20:38:00.000-08:00

The felicitation of Dronacharya Awardee Raghunandan
Gokhale at the hands of GSCA Vice President
M.R. Naik at the Mir Sultan Khan Chess Academy, Sanvordem
marked the commencement of the 30th
anniversary celebrations of Goa State Chess Association.

Gokhale, who is also due to celebrate his 50th birthday
few days later, remarked that a chess revolution is truly
underway in the tiny state of Goa. Although he is the Chairman
of Maharashtra Chess Association, Gokhale mentioned that
he enjoyed sepnding time in Goa and this was largely due to
the fact that he had received lots of love and affection from the Goan
officials, parents and children.

Sameer A. Salgaocar, President of GSCA, stated that
on Goa's Liberation Day, it was only fitting that we felicitate the
gentleman who had liberated our Goan students from the days
of directionless chess. 'With the advent of the Dronacharya,
Goa has seen its children rise to become World, Asian, Commonwealth
and National Champions and that too in such a short period of time',
he added.

Tatvesh Savant, a product of the Academy, was presented a digital
clock on the occasion by Gokhale for becoming the Under 7 State
Champion. His pet student Bhakti Kulkarni was later presented a
digital camera for earning her first Woman Grandmaster norm. Finally,
it was Niraj Saripalli who received a cash award for becoming the first
Goan boy to stand in the top 10 of three different National Championships.

The function was well attended by the officials, parents and children.
Sanjay Kavlekar, the Academy in charge, presented the Vote of Thanks.

'Benefits for the players and children in the 30th Anniversary year'

2007-12-09T01:21:00.001-08:00

At the Special General Body Meeting of the Goa State
Chess Association held today
at the International Centre, Dona Paula
it was decided to sponsor two donor entries
each in the Under 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 categories
of the National Championships in both the Boys and
Girls sections. Also, a sum of Rs. 1,000/- will be
paid to all the selected participants towards their
expenses for the National tournaments.

This is part of the 30th year Anniversary celebrations of the Goa
State Chess Association. A special souvenir will also
be published on this occassion. This year's State
championship and Subjunior championships will also
have a record prize money of Rs. 50,000/- and Rs. 25,000/-
respectively. Porvorim Chess Club, Porvorim and Mir Sultan Khan
Chess Academy, Sanvordem have come forward to organise
these two prestigious tournaments.

Coaching camps for the upcoming players are planned with the
guidance of reputed International Masters such as Vishal Sareen,
Lanka Ravi and D.V. Prasad. Laptops, digital clocks and cash
awards will be given to deserving candidates. Many kids from other
states will be felicitated as well and their entry fees for various
tournaments will also be sponsored to garner goodwill for G.S.C.A.
among our colleague associations.

The year will officially kick off on December 19th when Dronacharya
awardee Raghunandan Gokhale and International Champion and Woman
Grandmaster Norm holder Bhakti Kulkarni will be felicitated.
Later during the year, a felicitation of Bhausaheb Padsalgikar,
the veteran organiser is planned at Taleigao Chess Academy.
The founder members of GSCA as well as the veteran players
will be honoured by the Association during the course of the year.

The final icing on the cake will be the hosting of the National 'B'
which will involve the participation of numerous Grandmasters and
International Masters and will be a full fledged norm event for the
first time in India. More than 400 players are expected to participate in
this tournament.

Vishy Anand hails Ivana's feat!

2007-11-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

(Photo - Ivana receiving the Gold Medal from FIDE General
Secretary Ignatius Leong)

World Champion Viswanathan Anand congratulated
Ivana Furtado on her unique accomplishment of
winning two consecutive World Under 8 Girls
Championships in 2006 (Batumi, Georgia) and
2007 (Antalya, Turkey).

Ivana and Anand first met at the AICF felicitation function
of Vishy in Chennai. Ivana invited Aruna and Vishy to Goa
and the World Champion would have made it had it not
been for a bout of viral fever last minute. Thereafter, Ivana
called Anand to wish him for Diwali and Vishy inturn wished
her all the success for her upcoming tournament in Turkey.

Motivated by the kind words and gestures of this
great champion, Ivana who is a student of Our Lady of
Rosary, Dona Paula went on to be the only Gold medallist
in the large Indian contingent sent to Antalya. Her next goal
is to become the World Women's Champion one day, she states!

Bhakti, Anurag and Hari for Commonwealth Chess

2007-11-29T00:33:00.001-08:00

Riding on the success of her victory in the
National Junior Girls Chess Championship in
Nagpur, WFM Bhakti Kulkarni will be participating
in the the Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess
Championship 2007, which would be hosted by the
Delhi Chess Association at 'Khelgaon' from 2nd to
10th December 2007. Also present with her from Goa
will be State Champion Anurag Mhammal and 4th
in the National Under 9 Mohanan Harikrishnan.
The tournament, which will be a full fledged norm
event, has attracted a record 275 players till
date with entries still pouring in.

The mini-version of the Commonwealth Games 2010,
which is scheduled at the same venue, has attracted
the cream of chess talents from 11 Commonwealth
countries; Australia, Bangladesh, England, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Republic of South Africa, Singapore,
Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago, Maldives and host India.

The field includes 13 Grandmasters (GM);
5 Women Grandmasters (WGM), 40 International
Masters (IM), 5 Women International Masters (WIM),
5 FIDE Masters (FM) and 3 Women FIDE Masters (WFM),
which adds to nearly 70 titled players who would
be vying for a prize fund of US $ 20000 with
the winner pocketing US $ 4000 in this 10-round event.

There are more than 15 titled players and 20 FIDE
rated players from outside the country have confirmed
their participation in the tournament, which is
excellent news for norm seekers including Bhakti
and Anurag. Bhakti will be defending her Commonwealth
Under 18 Girls title which she won in Mumbai last year
as well as trying to earn some valuable ELO rating
points which will get her to cross 2200 mark.
This incidentally will be the first international
tournament for young Harikrishnan who won the
Sangli Under 9 Boys title in fine style.

The pride of seeding goes to Indian national champion,
GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly who is rated 2585 followed by
GM Gawain Jones of England (2567). However, the star
attraction of this tournament would undoubtedly be
hitherto world's youngest Grandmaster, 14-year old
Parimarjan Negi (2514) whose wonderful exploits has
made the chess world follow his progress. Jones and
Negi, who are below 20, are one of the world's
young exciting talents.

On the women's front, the glamour girl of Indian chess,
WGM Tania Sachdev (2413), who has recently won the
Indian national Women's championship for the second
consecutive time, would be posing tough challenge
to the top women's players, IM Dronavali Harika (2480)
and WGM Nisha Mohota (2416).

The tournament is sponsored by Parsvnath Developers Ltd,
which has made Delhi as the one of the top chess
destinations in the world. The travel partner of the
event is Indian Airlines.

Ivana conquers the world - again!!!

2007-11-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

Goa's Ivana Furtado guaranteed herself a place
in chess history by drawing the last round of the World
Youth Chess Championships being played
at Antalya, Turkey and thus retaining the world title
that she won in Batumi, Georgia last year. Considering the
fact that the Russians and Chinese were in Turkey in
full force, Ivana's second World championship can be rated as
even more commendable than the first one.

Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale advised
Ivana to use the Pirc Defence for the second consecutive time
in two days and she won a pawn in the opening itself. Thereafter,
she gradually outplayed her opponent - Zhansaya Abdumalik
of Kazhakastan - to come up with a winning position. However,
when her opponent offered her a draw which was sufficient for
her title, Ivana agreed and thus won her 7th International Gold
medal in two and a half years!

This eight year old girl from Our Lady of Rosary High School, Dona Paula
has won two World Championships, one Asian Title, two World Schools
Gold medals and two Asian Schools Gold Medals. Her coach Raghunandan
Gokhale, India's first Dronachraya awardee was full of praise for Ivana and
said that we can expect even greater things from her in the future.

A special show was organised at the Sharada Mandir High School,
Miramar wherein the last round game was webcast live to the students
and teachers of the school. Goa State Chess Association officials
including the President Sameer A. Salgaocar and Secretary Suhas Asnodkar
were present to explain the intricacies and subtleties of the game.

Ivana's efforts were praised by the AICF Honorary Secretary D.V. Sundar
who said that she had showed her 'fighting qualities' to come back strongly
after losing to compatriot C.H. Meghna during the tournament. Chief
Minister of Goa Digamber Kamat also applauded Ivana for her stupendous
accomplishment of winning the World Championship for the second
consecutive time.

Umang is Runner Up in Sangli Under 17

2007-11-27T09:26:00.000-08:00

(Photo - Umang Kaisary receiving prize from R Chitale, 91 years old Bhausaheb Padsalgikar is also present)

13 year old Umang Kaisary, student of Sharada Mandir,
Miramar Panaji, added yet another feather in his cap by taking the
runnerup spot in the Kanetkar Memorial All India Under 17 Chess
Tournament held at Sangli, Maharastra from 15th to 17th Nov. 2007.

Sameer Kathmale (Elo 2099), and Andhra Pradesh U 17 Champion
Anand Reddy (Elo 2035) also took part in the tournament. Umang was
tied with Anand Reddy for 2nd place on points but won the tiebreaker blitz
game in a cool and collected fashion.

Earlier, Pranav Zantye won the Under 11 section in which Goan Rishabh
Naik stood second. Goans, who had swept all the top 3 in the Under 9
section thus were dominant in this section as well!

Ivana continues to dominate, Bhakti held to a draw

2007-11-20T10:53:00.001-08:00

Ivana Furtado continued her fine form with a win over
P. Preethy in the third round of the World Youth
Chess Championships being played in Antalya,
Turkey. However, the other Goan in the fray,
WFM Bhakti Kulkarni was unlucky not to win a full point
against her highly rated opponent and had to remain
content with a draw.

In her game against 6th seed WFM Abby
Marshall (ELO 2208) of the United States,
National Junior Girls Champion Bhakti (ELO 2112) used
a novelty on the twelfth move of the Queen's
Gambit Declined, Tarrasch Variation prepared
by her coach Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan
Gokhale. Her opponent was obviously caught offguard and
fell behind on time while preparing her replies
to this unusual choice of plan. Bhakti developed
her advantage positionally and won a pawn as well.
She looked all set to win the game except that she
blundered in the last stages of the endgame and
had to settle for half the point.

What was unfortunate was that Bhakti missed the chance
to put away a high quality opponent. Abby Marshall has
has won two national invitational girls' chess tournaments
over the past two years and tied for eight place (along
with GM Hikaru Nakamura!) at this year's U.S. Open.
Nevertheless, credit must be given to both the players
for the fighting spirit shown in this remarkable encounter.

Ivana, with 3 points from 3 rounds, looks good to go
all the way as per Coach Gokhale. She next faces
Narmin Mammadova of Azerbaijan in the 4th round
in her quest to become the youngest Indian to win two
World Championships and the first Indian to win a World
Championship in two consecutive years. Altogether six players
share the lead after the 3rd round in the Girls Under Eight
section, and eight more rounds remain in this prestigious
tournament.

In the Under 18 Girls Section, India has a bright chance
as both 2nd seed WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty and WIM Mary
Ann Gomes are on top of the table with 3 points each (along
with 3 others). In the Under 14 Open section, IM S.P. Sethuraman
would be rated as a strong contender after he disposed off former
World Champion FIDE Master Narayanan Srinath. Altogether
1450 players from 103 countries are taking part in this mega event.

Finally a quote from Bhakti's opponent (Abby)
on the endgame -
'The end game is where you have to be precise,
where you have to be fast and smart.
You have to make sure that you what want
to do happens faster than what your opponent wants'.

Well said Abby!!

Bhakti and Ivana both win 2nd round games

2007-11-19T10:25:00.000-08:00

Goa's both players - Ivana Furtado and
WFM Bhakti Kulkarni - won their second round
games in the World Youth Chess Championships
being played at Antalya, Turkey.

Bhakti (ELO 2112) defeated Turkish girl
Berfu Dincok (ELO 1945) in 70 moves of a
Ruy Lopez (Spanish Opening) game. She won
a piece in the opening itself and gradually wore
her opponent down. When we contacted Bhakti,
she expressed satisfaction with the conditions in
the tournament and was happy with the overall
facilities provided by the organisers. Bhakti had a
slice of good luck as well when top seeded Russian
WFM Olga Giriya (ELO 2338) was held to a draw and 2nd
seeded WFM Sopiko Guramishvili (ELO 2305) of Georgia
lost to an unfancied opponent.

Ivana, Goa's other medal hope, also won her game
against Helin Melek Saim of Turkey. Ivana is
trying to defend the crown that she won in Batumi,
Georgia last year and in the process she stands to
become India's youngest double World Champion!

One other defending champion, FIDE Master Girish
Kaushik (ELO 2086) was not so lucky when he lost
to unrated Ayan Akhmetov of Kazhakastan in the
Boys Under 10 Section. Playing his favourite Dragon
Variation of the Sicilian Defence, Girish faced a blistering
attack on his castled King. Although he survived that, the
price he paid was too high in terms of material, and he
eventually succumbed on the 71st move. Indian hopes were
kept alive in the same section, when Asian Champion Shardul
Gagare (ELO 2080) mated his opponent Aksel Sena Bicer
of Turkey in just 31 moves of an English Opening game.

No prizes for guessing the coach of all the three winners -
Ivana, Bhakti and Shardul. He is none other than Dronacharya
Awardee Raghunandan Gokhale who will be trying to
make it a Golden tournament for his students in Antalya!!

Ivana and Bhakti start off with wins

2007-11-18T19:54:00.001-08:00

Both the Goans - World Under 8 Champion Ivana Furtado
and National Junior Champion Bhakti Kulkarni - started with
victories in the World Youth Chess Championships
which got underway in Antalya, Turkey.

Commonwealth Under 18 Girls Champion Bhakti (ELO 2112),
who is starting as the 19th seed in the Girls
section, defeated unrated Salama Al Khelaifi of Qatar
with the black pieces. She will next be playing Berfu
Dincok (ELO 1945) of Turkey in the second round.

Ivana, who is also the Asian Under 8 Girls Champion,
defeated Samantha Revita Glo of the Philippines
in the first round. She will be playing Melek Helin Saim
in the second round. Ivana will be fancying her chances
now as both the top seed Valentina Fiesco (ELO 2048)
of Colombia and the third seed Agnieszka Dmochowska
(ELO 1463) of Poland lost in the first round.

In other results, in the Girls Under 14 section,
2nd seeded Padmini Rout (ELO 2226) could be
considered lucky to escape with a draw
against Reka Kantor (ELO 1780) of Slovakia.
After the opening, Reka was a pawn up and had a double
Bishop advantage as well, but could not somehow
find the technique to convert her superior
position into a victory.

In the Boys Under 14 Section, topseeded
IM S.P. Sethuraman (ELO 2427) had no
problems whatsoever in disposing off
Jonathan Tordeur (ELO 1988) of Switzerland
in just 29 moves of an English Attack
in a Sicilian Defence Opening. However, in the
Boys Under 12 section, National Under 11 Champion
Fenil Shah (ELO 2124) was shocked by unrated
Iskandar Aripov of Uzbekistan and Asian Under 8
Champion G.V. Revanth Reddy (ELO 1625) went down
to unrated De Li Derek Lim of Singapore in
what could be perceived as major blows to
the Indian contingent's chances!

Goan kids sweep Sangli Under 9

2007-11-15T17:39:00.001-08:00

Goan kids created a record of sorts
when they swept the top three places
in the traditional All India Open tournament
which takes place in Sangli every year.

In the Under 9 section, wherein both boys
and girls take part, M. Harikrishnan of Goa
won the first prize. He has been on a tear of
late and following his 4th place finish in the
National Under 9 in Bangalore, he added one more
feather in his cap by winning the Sangli crown.
He is being presently coached by V. Sivaswamy of
Bambolim Chess Club.

Following him was Anirudh Bhat of Margao who is
also a very strong, upcoming player. In third
place was Gauri Keshav Hadkonkar who enabled an
unprecedented Goan 'sweep' of the top 3 spots in
this prestigious competition. Finally there was
even more cheer for the Goan contingent when Rishabh
Naik stood 5th. Following in the footsteps
of Bhakti and Ivana, these youngsters will now hope
to carve out a niche for themselves at the national
and international level!

Bhakti's felicitation

2007-11-07T00:12:00.000-08:00

National Junior Girls Champion Woman
FIDE Master being felicitated at
the Annual General Meeting of the
Goa State Chess Association by
AICF Vice President Sameer A. Salgaocar
in the presence of her father Pradip Kulkarni.

Also present are GSCA officials - Secretary
Suhas Asnodkar, Acting Secretary Augusto
Pinto and Treasurer Sachin Arolkar.

The meeting was attended by more than 75
life members of the GSCA.

Bhakti will also participate in the Girl Under 16
Section of the World Youth Chess Championships
in Antalya later this month along with World Under
8 Girls Chess Champion Ivana Furtado.
They will subsequently play in the Commonwealth
Championships in New Delhi where Bhakti will
defend her Under 18 Girls Gold Medal which she
won in great style last year.

Both the players will be having the benefit of their coach
Dronacharya Awardee Raghunandan Gokhale guiding
them personally in Turkey!

Riya Sawant stands fourth In National Under 7

2007-11-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

Goa's Riya Sawant stood 4th in the
Girls section of the National
Under 7 Chess Championships
which concluded in Lucknow today.
This exceptional performance
follows her brilliant effort in the National
Under 9 tournament in Bangalore last month
where she stood 8th in a very tough field.
Goan kids have been on a tear recently
with half a dozen top ten performances
in the Nationals over the last 1.5 months -
(Riya Sawant twice, Niraj Saripalli, Bhakti Kulkarni,
Ivana Furtado and Mohanan Harikrishnan).
Add to that we have Anurag Mhamal (12th),
Cyrus Perreira (14th), Tatvesh Sawant (15th)
and Urvi Bandekar (16th) and the entire
scenario in Goa becomes crystal clear!

Riya finished with 7.5 points and will have
the satisfaction of having finished
in the top 10 of two National tournaments
in the same calendar year. She is presently
being coached by V. Sivaswamy of Bambolim
Chess Club, the cradle of many Goan champions.

The President and the Secretary of the
Goa State Chess Association
congratulated Riya and her coach on her unique
accomplishment and wished her continued success
in the future. There will be a separate felicitation
function for Riya on her return to Goa.

The final standings of the all the Goans
participating in the tournament were as follows -

Girls section - Riya Sawant 4th, Urvi Bandekar 16th,
Vidula Dempo 25th.

Boys section - Tatvesh Sawant 15th, Sumukh Pinge 62nd.

Bhakti interviewed by Chessfm.com

2007-11-04T18:13:00.001-08:00

National Junior Girls champion, Bhakti Kulkarni of Goa is this week's guest on Chess.FM India's weekly show. The "India this Week" report by Arvind Aaron, we have the Indian team in action at the Asian Indoor games at Macau, the National Under-11 championship at Kozhikode, the upcoming National Women "A" Chess Championship at Pune and much more...

The Saturday show begins at 7PM IST and is available right through the week on the following link and website for your listening pleasure. You can listen to Chess.FM India directly heard through the web browsers at http://www.chessclub.com/chessfm/India.asx or visit www.chess.fm for more.

Chess.FM India, the exclusive India channel of Internet Chess Club's www.chess.fm was inaugurated during the Anand Charity Simul for Vidyasagar charity organisation. The previous Saturday show guests include various chess personalties, former World Junior champion GM Harikrishna, World's youngest Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi, Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda, Indian Women champion WGM Tania Sachdev, GM Dibyendu Barua, WGM Dronavalli Harika, IM Prathamesh, WGM S Vijayalakshmi, IM GN Gopal, WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty, IM D V Prasad, R V Gokhale, WGM Swathi Ghate, GM Praveen Thipsay, GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly,GM Abhijit Kunte.

Chess.FM India is a free service and apart from the Saturday weekly show, has broadcasts Grandmaster commentary and analysis of world class Chess events such M Tel Super category tournament, Bulgaria and the Sparkassen Chess Festival, Dortmund, the Mainz Rapid and the World Chess Championship at Mexico. Viswanathan Anand.

For futher information on Chess.FM India & ICC:
K Visweswaran, India Representative,

The Internet Chess Club, Inc. www.chessclub.com

email: IccIndia@chessclub.com Ph: +91-9444934036 .

Star Players felicitated at GSCA Annual General Meeting

2007-11-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

(Photo - National under 9 4th place winner Mohanan Harikrishnan
being presented a digital chess clock by AICF Vice President
Sameer A. Salgaocar in the presence of his parents and GSCA
officials)

Goan star players were felicitated with cash prizes
and certificates at the Annual General Meeting of
the Goa State Chess Association which took place
at the BPS Sports Club in Margao today.

The players honoured by the Association included

1. Bhakti Kulkarni who won the National
Junior Championship in Nagpur and stood 2nd in the Asian
Under 16 Championships in Uzbekistan;

2. Ivana Furtado who won the Asian Under 8
Championships in Al Ain, U.A.E.;

3. Mohanan Harikrishnan who stood 4th in the
National Under 9 in Bangalore;

4. Riya Sawant who stood 8th in the National Under 9
in Bangalore;

5. Niraj Saripalli who stood 8th in the National Under 11
in Kozhikode.

Agasti Tari was also given a cash prize for having accomplished
his rating and having won a board prize in the National Schools
Tournament in Vishakapatnam.

The Association also decided on hosting the National "B"
tournament next year as well as conducting some coaching camps
with some reputed players as part of the 30th Anniversary celebrations.
Also the A.N. Naik Memorial All India Open tournament will be revived
and the main sponsor will be the Monginis Group.

The Association thanked the Goa government and the Sports Authority
of Goa for all the assistance and financial help sanctioned throughout
the year and also the AICF for having allotted the prestigious National
"B" next year to Goa.

Anand's felicitation - 2

2007-11-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

Photo 1 - World Champion Viswanathan Anand with World Under 8
Champion Ivana Furtado and AICF Vice President Sameer A. Salgaocar

Photo 2 - World Under 8 Champion Ivana Furtado with her idol and
chess legend Super Grandmaster Koneru Humpy

Niraj Saripalli finishes 8th; Cyrus 14th

2007-10-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

Goa's Niraj Saripalli continued the state's
fine showing in the recent national events
by clinching the eighth spot in the National
Under 11 Chess Championships which
concluded in Kozhikode, Kerala.

In the tournament, Niraj had a bad start when
he lost to a low rated player in the second round
itself. Nevertheless, he kept his nerve and gradually
his position improved. In the last round, he beat the
fancied R. Eswar to finish in a five way tie for the
fourth place with 8 points. However, his poor tiebreak
score cost him dearly here and he finished on 8th
place which is a commendable performance.

Goa's Cyrus Perreira also followed closely with
7.5 points. He finished in the 14th spot which
is highly encouraging considering the fact that
he has one more year in this category.

Pranav Zantye finished 26th and Chinmay finished
38th. In the Girls Section, Vaishakhi Pilarnkar
finished 47th.

Umang Kaisary wins M. F. Pinto Memorial Open Chess in Moira

2007-10-30T00:21:00.001-07:00

(Report prepared by GSCA Vice President Augusto Pinto)

Scoring 7 points from 7 rounds, 13 year old Sharada Mandir student Umang Kaisary proved that in Goan chess nobody can take anything for granted as he swept past all opposition to emerge champion at the M. F. Pinto Memorial open chess tournament organised by Associacao Academica de Moira. State champion Anurag Mhamal (6) took 2nd spot, the experienced Vasant Naik ( 5.5) was third, while State no.2 Shubham Pinge (5 ) was relegated to 4th spot on better progressive tie-break score. The 5th prize went to Arvind Mhamal (5) who edged out Wilson Cruz on better cut progressive tie-break score.

Others to get consolation prizes included Nandini Saripalli (Best 15 player); Rishabh Naik - (Best under-11); Shravan Barve (Best unrated boy) Varshitha Reddy (Best unrated girl) and Gajanan Haldankar (Best Moira player). The tournament was played using a combination of Lightning and Blitz formats, and the playing field had a total of 15 rated players.

The inform Umang defeated Shubham Pinge in the 4th round after sacrificing a piece in a French opening game. Shubham blundered by accepting it as it soon led to a back rank mate.

In the 5th round he met Anurag, and played aggressively against the Sicilian Rossolimo opening with black pieces. In the endgame that resulted, Umang's Bishop proved better than Anu's Knight and he forced the State Champion's resignation when his King got cornered.Although he was champion with a round to spare, he still went all out to defeat Arvind Mhamal in the last round.

The prizes were distributed by former President of GSCA , Adv. S. S. Rao who spoke of how chess players benefitted academically.Also present were GSCA officials Suhas Asnodkar, (Secretary); Sachin Arolkar (Treasurer); Arvind Mhamal (Jt. Sec.); Augusto Pinto (Acting Secy);and arbiters Tanay Kaisare and Shrikant Barve.

Ivana attends Anand's felicitation

2007-10-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana Furtado,
her father Eli Furtado and GSCA President
Sameer A. Salgaocar attended World Champion
Viswanathan Anand's felicitation at Chennai.
On this occasion, Anand was presented a cheque
of Rupees Ten lakhs by the AICF President
N. Srinivasan in the presence of Asian President
Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, AICF
Secretary D.V. Sundar and cricketing legend
and former Indian captain Rahul Dravid.

During the function, Ivana was asked to present
a bouquet to the World Champion. The crowd broke
out into a spontaneous rapture as India's youngest
champion and the senior most champion came
face to face on the stage. Ivana also described
this moment as 'absolutely thrilling' and her father
Eli said that she was simply 'overwhelmed'.

'When I see these young kids (including Ivana)
I can see in their eyes what Anand means to them'
stated Dravid. 'He has been an inspiration to all of us.
I’d also like to congratulate his family,” he added.

Ivana also got some time to spend with her idol
and Super Grandmaster Koneru Humpy before
the function. Her coach Dronacharya Awardee
Raghunandan Gokhale also flew down from Mumbai
for this momentuous occasion.

Ivana later presented a resolution passed by
Goa State Chess Association commending Anand’s feats.
She also invited both Aruna and Vishy Anand to visit
Goa when they have some free time to which she received
a positive answer from Aruna.

GSCA President Salgaocar gave the credit to AICF
Secretary D.V. Sundar for having initiated the novel scheme
of having all of India's chess champions visit Chennai
for participating in Anand's moment of glory. 'When Ivana
went up on the stage, Goan chess had a moment that
will be indelibly imprinted on our minds', he later mentioned.

3 Goans in the top 10

2007-10-20T04:52:00.000-07:00

Three Goans finished in the top 10
to create history in the National Under 9
Chess Championships which concluded
at Bangalore. Of these, Harikrishnan will have
a bright chance to represent India next year as the
3rd placed Ch. Mohineesh (ELO 1925) will get
seeding if he places in the top 3 in the World
Youth which is getting underway next month
in Antalya, Turkey.

Mohanan Harikrishnan (ELO 1730) was the
pick of the lot. He finished fourth in the Boys'
section after beating M. Karthikeyan of Tamil
Nadu. Harikrishnan will consider himself unlucky
not to finish in the top 3 as he had a brilliant
tournament and won accolades from one and all
for his sterling display. Before this the best finish
by a Goan boy was the 5th place of Cyrus Perreira
in the Under 9 held in Solapur last year.

World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana Furtado finished
5th after beating statemate Gauri Hadkonkar in the
last round. Ivana has one more year in the Under 9
section and we expect her to finish much higher
in the next year's edition of this same tournament.

Perhaps the greatest revalation was young Riya Sawant
who finished 8th in the Girls section. Riya is still eligible
for the Under 7 Nationals which get underway later this
month in Lucknow. Another pleasant surprise for the Goans
was the performance of Gauri Hadkonkar who finished
in 18th place. GSCA President Sameer A. Salgaocar
flew down to Bangalore for the Prize Distribution ceremony
and congratulated the successful Goan players in person.

Boys (final round): Diptayan Ghosh (9.5) drew with Sidhanth Mohapatra (9); Ch Mohineesh (8.5) drew with Sardara Preet (8.5); M. Satvik (8.5) bt Ashwath P. Hari (7.5); Arjun Bharat (8.5) bt Gv. Revanth Reddy (7.5); M. Karthikeyan (7.5) lost to Harikrishnan Mohanan (8.5); Adarsh P. Yeshwanth (8.5) bt Maniar Thirth (7.5).

Girls: Sunya Sakta Satpathy (8) lost to GK Monisha (9.5); Sweety Patel (8.5) bt M. Mahalakshmi (8); Shoumi Mukherjee (9) bt Akhankya Kabi (7); C.H. Meghana (8) bt Divya Garg (7); Ivana Maria Furtado (8) bt Gauri Keshav Hadondkar (7).

Ivana in joint second place

2007-10-15T10:01:00.001-07:00

World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana
Furtado of Goa found herself in joint
second place after the sixth round of the
National Under 9 Chess Championships
being played at Bangalore.

Ivana defeated Megha Gupta of Gujarat in the
sixth round. This was the same girl who had
defeated topseed Sweety Patel (ELO 1983)
in the first round so Ivana could not take any
chances. She eventually prevailed in a tough
battle to bag her 5th point in 6 rounds.

G.K. Monnisha (ELO 1705) of Tamil Nadu is in
the lead with 5.5 points. Ivana and 4 others
are in the second spot with 5 points each.
Goa's Gauri Hadkonkar (4 points) and Riya Sawant
(3.5 points) are also doing well. Ivana faces the leader
in a crucial encounter in the 7th round.

In the boys section, two Goans are in joint 5th
place surprisingly with 5 points each. They are
M. Harikrishnan (ELO 1730) and Rakshit Rai
(ELO 1656). Hopefully, one or both of these can
qualify for the internationals by placing in the top 3.

Anurag finishes 12th

2007-10-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

Goa's state champion Anurag Mhamal (ELO 2092)
finished off with a nice win aganst Tejas Ravichandran
(ELO 1980) of Tamil Nadu and ended with 7.5 points
in the National Subjunior Chess Championships which
concluded here at Chennai today.

Tejas launched a premature attack on the Kingside which
was effectively foiled by Anurag and he also won a piece
in the ensuing melee. Mhamal simplified matters into a
winning endgame and his opponent resigned in just 29
moves. This makes up somewhat for Anurag's unfortunate
loss yesterday against IM Norm holder Aditya Udeshi (ELO 2355)
of Maharashtra where he failed to claim a draw by repetition
of moves.

Considering that Anurag was seeded 24th at the start of the
tournament, a 12th place finish is indeed a welcome effort from
this 12 year old lad. He finished ahead of former World Under 12
Champion N. Srinath (ELO 2201 and 16th place) and last year's
Under 11 National Champion Fenil Shah (ELO 2124 and 18th place)
so his performance is indeed commendable. His next tournaments will
be the Under 13 Nationals and the Commonwealth Chess Championships
which are both to be conducted in New Delhi in December, this year.

Also doing well was Nandhini Saripalli (ELO 1876) of Goa who beat
unrated Pallavi of Bihar in the last round. Although she was
ranked 28th at the start of the tournament, Nandhini finished 23rd.
Goan chess lovers can expect more good things to come from both
Anurag and Nandhini in the future!

Tejas Ravichandran (1980) - Anurag Mhamal (2092)
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c3 Bd6 6.Bg3 Nf6 7.Nbd2 Qe7
8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 e5 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Qxe5 13.Nf3 Qc7
14.Qa4 b6 15.Qh4 Re8 16.Rad1 h6 17.Bc2 Bb7 18.Qh3 Rad8 19.Bb1 Ne4
20.Rfe1 Rd6 21.Nh4 Bc8 22.g4 h5 23.f3 hxg4 24.fxg4 Rh6 25.Rxd5 Qe7
26.Bxe4 Rxh4 27.Qf3 Rxg4+ 28.Kh1 Qxe4 29.Qxe4 Rgxe4 0-1

Nandhini Saripalli (1876) - Pallavi
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Nbd7 6.0-0 b6 7.Bb2 Qc7 8.Ne5
Bd6 9.f4 a6 10.c4 Bb7 11.Nd2 0-0 12.Rc1 h6 13.Qe2 Rfc8 14.g4 Ne4
15.Ndf3 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Be7 17.f5 Qd8 18.cxd5 Qxd5 19.Rcd1 Qc6 20.Qg2 Ng5
21.Be2 Ne4 22.Nd2 Nxd2 23.Qxc6 Bxc6 24.Rxd2 Rd8 25.Rfd1 Rxd2 26.Rxd2
exf5 27.gxf5 Bg5 28.Kf2 Bh4+ 29.Kf1 Bb5 30.Rd6 Bxe2+ 31.Kxe2 b5 32.Rc6
Be7 33.Rc7 Kf8 34.e6 f6 35.Rd7 a5 36.Rb7 b4 37.Kd3 a4 38.bxa4 Ke8
39.Kc4 Rxa4 40.Rb8+ Bd8 41.Kb3 Ra7 42.a3 bxa3 43.Bxa3 Ra5 44.Rc8 c4+
45.Rxc4 Rxf5 46.Rc8 Re5 47.e7 Rxe7 48.Bxe7 Kxe7 49.Kc4 Bb6 50.e4 Kf7
51.Kd5 g5 52.h3 h5 53.Rc6 Be3 54.e5 fxe5 55.Kxe5 h4 56.Kf5 Bf4 57.Rb6
Ke7 58.Rb7+ Kf8 59.Kf6 Ke8 60.Rh7 Bc1 61.Re7+ Kd8 62.Re2 Bf4 63.Kf7
Bc1 64.Re1 Bf4 65.Rd1+ Kc7 66.Ke7 Kc8 67.Rd4 Kc7 68.Rc4+ Kb6 69.Ke6
Bd2 70.Kd5 Kb7 71.Kd6 Kb8 72.Kd7 Kb7 73.Rc2 Bf4 74.Rb2+ Ka8 75.Ke6 Bc1
76.Rb1 Bf4 77.Kf5 Bd2 78.Kg4 Ka7 79.Rb5 Ka8 80.Rxg5 Bxg5 81.Kxg5 Kb7
82.Kxh4 Kc8 83.Kg5 Kd8 84.Kf6 Ke8 85.Kg7 Ke7 86.h4 1-0

Anurag holds International Master to a draw

2007-10-08T02:21:00.000-07:00

State Champion Anurag Mhamal (ELO 2092) managed to
hold reputed International Master M. Shyam Sundar (ELO 2241)
of Tamil Nadu to a 25 move draw in the crucial ninth round of the National
Sub junior Championships being played in Chennai.

Shyam Sundar had tied for first place in the Asian Junior
Championship in New Delhi last year and this was going to be
a tough battle for Anurag. In a French Defence opening,
12 year old Anurag actually managed to get a slight
positional edge as his opponent had an isolated Queen pawn.
However, that did not seem to be enough and the players agreed
for a draw through a repetition of moves.

IM S.P. Sethuraman (ELO 2427) of Tamil Nadu leads with 8 points
after he defeated statemate FM K. Priyadarshan (ELO 2298).
He is followed by International Master B. Adhiban (ELO 2422)
and R. Ramnath Bhuvanesh (ELO 2115) also of Tamil Nadu
and Antonio Viani D' Cunha (ELO 1988) of Karnataka
who are on 7 points each.

Anurag is in joint 5th position with a bunch of other players.
Two more rounds remain in this event and he will have to win both
to stand in the first five who will have a chance to represent
India in the World Under 16 Olympiad next year.

In the Girls section, A. Niji (ELO 1925) took over the sole lead with
7.5 points. Top seed WFM Pon. N. Krithika (ELO 2140) was shocked by
Tamil Nadu state mate R. Bharathi (ELO 2017) in a Caro Kann Opening.

Shyam Sundar M (2241) - Anurag Mhamal (2092) [C10]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Bd3 Ngf6 7.Nxf6+
Bxf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Re1 c5 10.c3 cxd4 11.cxd4 Nb6 12.Qc2 g6 13.Bh6 Re8
14.Rad1 Nd5 15.a3 b6 16.Ne5 Bb7 17.Be4 Bg5 18.Bxg5 Qxg5 19.Rd3 Rac8
20.Qd1 Re7 21.Rg3 Qh6 22.Rh3 Qg5 23.Rg3 Qh6 24.Rh3 Qg5 25.Rg3 1/2-1/2

4 more Goans in October 2007 FIDE list!

2007-10-02T03:31:00.000-07:00

Four more Goans - Agasti Tari, Brahmanand Kamat,
M. Harikrishnan and Rakshith Rai - made it to the FIDE rating list
which was released on October 1, 2007. This reflects the
growing popularity of chess with the youngsters in Goa
as they are now performing well in the Open tournaments
and earning a name for themselves and the State.

Goan chess also celebrated the success of Anurag Mhamal
and Umang Kaisary whose ratings improved by 33 points and
67 points respectively. Whereas Umang dazzled in Mangalore
with a 2093 performance, Anurag essayed a brilliant 2203 performance
in the National 'B' conducted at Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.

Among the active players the gap between Woman FIDE Master
Bhakti Kulkarni and Anurag Mhamal has narrowed to just
20 points though it must be mentioned that Bhakti will be gaining
61 ELO points for her performance in the National Junior Championship
which will be reflected in the January 2008 rating list.

Some of the important ratings are as follows -

J. Venkata Ramana 2168
Mandar Tahmankar 2141
Bhakti Kulkarni 2112
Swapnil Hobble 2105
Anurag Mhamal 2092
Suhas Asnodkar 2031
Shubham Pinge 2012
Sumit Asnodkar 1999
P.M. Kantak 1990
Niraj Saripalli 1967
Standrik Colaso 1957
Sanjay Kavlekar 1947
Celianne Carvalho 1926
A. Malwankar 1914
Umang Kaisary 1889
Prasanna Swamy 1884
Nandhini Saripalli 1876
Keegan Furtado 1870
Shradha Mohanan 1857
Cyrus Perreira 1845
V. Siva Swamy 1820
Pranav Zantye 1795
Anuradha Chavan 1766
Chinmay Patil 1725

New entrants
Agasti Tari 1875
Brahmanand Kamat 1747
M. Harikrishnan 1730
Rakshith Rai 1656

Recent top rating performances by Goan players

1. Commonwealth, November 2006 - 2328 Bhakti Kulkarni (9 games)
2. National Junior Girls 2007 - 2220 Bhakti Kulkarni (10 games)
3. National B 2006 - 2203 Anurag Mhamal (12 games)
4. Sangli, May 2007 - 2176 Anurag Mhamal (8 games)
5. Sangli, May 2005- 2175 Bhakti Kulkarni (7 games)
6. Rochess, December 2006 - 2162 Anurag Mhamal (7 games)
7. Sangli, December 2006 - 2157 Anurag Mhamal (8 games)
8. Mangalore 2007 - 2093 Umang Kaisary (7 games)

GSCA salutes Viswanathan Anand!

2007-09-30T10:11:00.001-07:00

In its Executive Body meeting, Goa State Chess
Association passed a resolution congratulating
Viswanathan Anand for winning the World Championship
title in Mexico.

'Anand will always be special for Goa' said President
Sameer A. Salgaocar adding that 'it was here in Panjim that
Vishy won his first National title (Subjunior open) in 1983
by scoring a perfect 9 out of 9 points'.

Anand also won the National Junior crown the subsequent
crown in Vasco city to add to his fond memories of the
state.

Bhakti remains unbeaten; wins by record margin!

2007-09-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

Commonwealth Under 18 Girls Champion Bhakti
Kulkarni (ELO 2112) drew her last round game with National
Under 17 Champion R. Preethi of Tamil Nadu (ELO 2109)
to remain unbeaten in the National Junior Girls Chess
Championship which concluded here at Nagpur today.

At the outset of the game, Goa's wondergirl Bhakti
offered a draw to her reputed rival from down South.
However, her opponent refused as she was trying to
seal the runner up position for herself. Nevertheless,
as the game progressed, it was Preethi who found
herself in a spot of bother and she landed up offering
the draw which Bhakti gladly accepted.

With this result, Bhakti finishes with 10 out of a possible
11 points and stays unbeaten in this gruelling event.
The margin of 2 points over her nearest rivals is a record
as well as the fact that she is the first girl after Koneru
Humpy to have won the Juniors title while still being
eligible for the Subjunior category!

For the stastically inclined, Bhakti's performance of 9 points
against 10 rated players of an average ELO rating of 2119 points
will translate into a rating performance of 2219 in the event
wherein she will gain 61 points.

Dronacharya awardee, Raghunandan Gokhale, who is
also Bhakti's coach attributes her 'dream run' to the
Blessings of the Almighty.

Main results (final round) - 1. R. Preethi drew with Bhakti Kulkarni
2. Mary Ann Gomes drew with P. Lakshmi Sahiti 3. Pon. N. Krithika
beat Kiran Manisha Mohanty 4. Kruttika Nadig beat Padmini Rout
5. Sitalatchumi lost to Soumya Swaminathan 6. S. Harini lost to
P. Uthra 7. Mohana Sengupta lost to P. Sivasankari 8. N. Raghavi
drew with Shrushti Shetty 9. Ch. Divyasri lost to P. Anusha 10. Priyanka
Kumari drew with Ketaki Kulkarni

Final standings : 1. WFM Bhakti Kulkarni (10 points), 2-6. WIM Mary Ann
Gomes, R. Preethi, WIM Soumya Swaminathan, WFM Pon. N. Krithika,
WIM Kruttika Nadig (8 points), 7-8. WIM P. Lakshmi Sahiti, P. Uthra (7.5
points) 9-10. Padmini Rout, P. Sivasankari (7 points).

Goa's first National Championship - Bhakti beats reigning champ Soumya to claim the title!

2007-09-28T01:40:00.000-07:00

In a fitting finale, Goa's Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2112) defeated
WIM and reigning National Junior Champion
Soumya Swaminathan (ELO 2178) of Maharashtra
to clinch the National Junior Girls Championship
which is being played in Nagpur.

Soumya had won the last two editions of this
event and was aiming for a hat trick. She had the
advantage of home state and also she was in terrific
form having accomplished three Women International
Norms in Spain in three consecutive tournaments. Besides,
she had beaten Bhakti convincingly in their only encounter in
the National 'A' in 2006. With all these factors in her favour and
the pressure of clinching the title squarely resting on Bhakti's
young shoulders, it was always going to be an uphill struggle.

As usual, it was the Coach and Dronacharya Awardee Raghunandan
Gokhale who came to the rescue with a subtle change in Bhakti's
opening. She essayed the Ruy Lopez once again with a slight
variation from her earlier game against S. Harini (ELO 2087). Soumya was caught
unaware as the game drifted into dynamic equality. In desperation,
the reigning champ lashed out and in the overstretch, Bhakti
capitalised to pocket the full point. Incidentally, the first ever National Juniors
Girls Champion was Gokhale 's student - WIM Anupama Gokhale.

This is the first National Championship for Goa coming in the 40th year of
existence of Goa State Chess Association. In a field of 5 Women International
Masters (including the Asian Junior Champion and the 2 time National
Junior Champion), to record a triumph with a round to spare speaks volumes
of Bhakti's improved play, dedication and hardwork. Bhakti will play nothing
less than 6 international tournaments next year as a result of this
victory including the World Junior and Asian Junior Championships.
All the office bearers of Goa State Chess Association including
the President Sameer A. Salgaocar and the Secretary Suhas Asnodkar are in jubilant
mood. A grand reception awaits Bhakti when she returns to Goa
following her stupendous victory in Nagpur!

Bhakti fights back to win crucial encounter

2007-09-28T01:27:00.000-07:00

In the ninth round of the National Junior
Girls Chess Championship being played
at Nagpur, Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2112) fought back from
a dead lost position to win her game against
fancied P. Uthra (ELO 2060) of Tamil Nadu to take a 1.5 point
lead with two rounds to go in the event.

Former National Under 17 Girls Champion
P. Uthra had obviously prepared well for this game as she
gained superiority right from the opening itself
and won a pawn. However, Goa's Commonwealth
Under 18 Girls Champion Bhakti was given a lifeline
through sheer Divine Intervention when her opponent
grabbed another pawn and opened a file for her rook.
Bhakti counterattacked and in the ensuing time scramble
held her nerves to win the crucial encounter.

Bhakti on 8.5 points has the sole lead and is followed
by two time National Junior Champion WIM Elect
Soumya Swaminathan (ELO 2178) and Asian Junior Girls Champion
WIM Mary Ann Gomes (ELO 2274) who are on 7 points each.
Bhakti needs just half a point from her remaining two games to
win the Championship. She next plays reigning Champion
Soumya in the 10th round to try and seal her victory in the event.

Even the worst case scenario sees Bhakti finishing no worse than
third and she has thus ensured her place in both the National Junior
team and the World and Asian Junior events next year. Coach
Raghunandan Gokhale, India's first Dronacharya awardee in chess,
has expressed confidence that Bhakti will get the half point
and emerge victorious in the Championship!

Bhakti beats Harini to take a one point lead

2007-09-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

Goa's Commonwealth Under 18 Girls Champion
Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2112) beat Tamil Nadu's 11th seeded
S. Harini (ELO 2087) to establish a clear one point lead
in the Eighth round of the National Junior Girls
Championship being played at Nagpur today. Bhakti,
not given a chance by too many of the pundits at the
start of the tournament, had participated in
the event primarily for experience. This performance,
especially her wins in the last two rounds against
S. Harini and P. Sivasankari (ELO 2101) has
surprised all the chess faithful and perhaps Bhakti herself.

S. Harini is an extremely experienced player
(having played in the National Women's 'A') and
had the advantage of playing with the White pieces.
She had beaten Bhakti in the National Women's 'B'
in 2006 and although Bhakti had reversed the score in
the National 'A' later in the same year, this encounter was expected to be
closely fought. The expectations were rightly justified and
what decidedly turned the match in Bhakti's favour was the
superior opening preparation imparted to her by
her Coach - Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale.
She played a new line from the Ruy Lopez which she had
never employed before and this caught her opponent
offguard. Harini could not cope with the surprise and
eventually resigned after an enthralling middlegame.
Bhakti next plays P. Uthra (ELO 2060) of Tamil Nadu in the
ninth round later today.

On the second board, the game between top seeded Asian Junior Champion
WIM Mary Ann Gomes (ELO 2274) of West Bengal
and highly rated Padmini Rout (ELO 2246) of Orissa
ended peacefully in a draw. This means that Bhakti with 7.5 points has a clear lead
of one point over her nearest rival. However, with three rounds to go, anything
is possible and Goa's wondergirl Bhakti will be aiming
to finish in the top 3 and book herself a spot in the
World Junior Championships to be played in Ankara, Turkey
in August, 2008.

Bhakti held to a draw by Padmini

2007-09-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Goa's Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2112), who is the reigning
Commonwealth Under 18 Girls Champion, was
held to a draw by National Under 13 Girls
Champion Padmini Rout (ELO 2246) in the 6th round of the
National Junior Girls Chess Championship
being played at Nagpur.

Bhakti had beaten Padmini twice this year in
Calicut in the Under 17 Nationals and in Tashkent,
Uzbekistan in the Asian Under 16 Girls tournament.
However, she was lucky to get off with a draw
as the third seeded Padmini missed several winning
chances in a Pirc Defence opening. However, her coach
Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale was satisfied
with the result and said that Bhakti will have to 'maintain' the momentum
to make it to the medals tally.

8th seeded Bhakti had beaten National Sub Junior Champion
and the 7th seed WIM P. Lakshmi Sahiti (ELO 2142) in the morning
in the 5th round. She now has 5.5 points and stands a bright chance
to make it to the top 6 for a spot in the National
Junior team. She next plays P. Sivasankari (ELO 2101) of Tamil Nadu in
the seventh round.

Goa's only other entry Nandini Saripalli (ELO 1876) accounted for
Sonakshi Rathore (ELO 1963) of Rajasthan to notch her 4th point
and keep up her impressive showing in this event. Next up for her
is N. Raghavi (ELO 2069). There are 5 more rounds to go
and everything is still up for grabs in this prestigious event!

Top seeded Gomes upset by Bhakti

2007-09-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

Asian Junior Champion WIM Mary Ann Gomes (ELO 2274) was
upset by Commonwealth Girls Under 18 Champion
Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2112) in the fourth round of the National
Junior Girls Championship being conducted at
Nagpur, Maharashtra.

Bhakti, who is also the three time Goa state Seniors Champion,
had beaten Mary Ann in the Commonwealth
Championships in Mumbai last year. She proved that
the victory was no fluke when she convincingly
beat the Woman International Master for the second
time in their two meetings. Opening with her pet Colle
System, she gradually built up an advantage and
even sacrificed an exchange to develop a crushing attack.
When faced with queening pawns, the World Under 18
Bronze Medallist Mary Ann had no option but to resign.
Mary Ann, who is also a Woman Grandmaster Norm holder,
is coming back to chess after a long layoff, and perhaps was
a tad rusty in this particular encounter.

Also losing in the 4th round is WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (ELO 2247)
of Orissa. Kiran, who lost to Ch. Divyasri (ELO 2063) in the third round,
suffered another setback when R. Preethi (ELO 2109) of Tamil Nadu
beat her convincingly. Mohanty is the current National Women's 'B'
Champion and will have to score heavily in the last seven rounds
to have any chance of finishing in the medals list.

Bhakti beat S. Athirai (ELO 2005) of Tamil Nadu and K. Shruthi(ELO 1993)
of Karnataka in the previous two rounds. She next plays WIM P. Lakshmi Sahiti (ELO 2142) who is the two time and current National Subjunior Girls Champion. If she can
make it to the top 6 in this tournament, Bhakti will be part
of the National Junior team which will play in prestigious
international tournaments next year. Her coach Dronacharya awardee
Raghunandan Gokhale is in daily contact with her from Mumbai and
is guiding her in opening selection and game strategies.

Bhakti starts as Eighth Seed

2007-09-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

Commonwealth Girls Under 18 Gold Medallist Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2112)
started off as the eighth seed in the National Under 19
(Juniors) Girls Championship which got underway today at
Nagpur. Nandini Saripalli is the other Goan in the tough field
which will determine the top 6 to make it to the Indian Junior
team to represent the country in many international tournaments
next year.

The top seed is WIM Mary Ann Gomes (ELO 2274) of West Bengal who has previously
won the Asian Junior Girls Championship in New Delhi and the Bronze medal in
the World Under 18 Girls Championship in Batumi, Georgia.
National 'B' Womens Champion WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (ELO 2247) and
last years Asian Under 12 Girls Gold Medallist Padmini Rout (ELO 2246)
both from Orissa start as the 2nd and 3rd seeds. WIM Kruttika
Nadig (ELO 2238) and two time winner WIM Soumya Swaminathan (ELO 2178)
both from Maharashtra will give everyone a hard time in this tournament
as the 4th and 5th seeds. Two time National Subjunior Champion
WIM P. Lakshmi Sahiti (ELO 2142) from Andhra Pradesh is the 6th seed and
WFM Pon. N. Krithika (ELO 2122) from Tamil Nadu will be
rounding out this extremely competitive field.

Bhakti's coach Dronacharya Awardee Raghunandan Gokhale has expressed
confidence that she will give a good account of herself and keep the
Goan flag flying high.

Anurag receives Geno award for Best Sportsperson

2007-09-22T00:52:00.000-07:00

Goa State Champion Anurag Mhammal received the Geno award
for Best Sportsperson from the Chief Minister Digamber Kamat
at a function organised by the Sports Journalists Association
of Goa at Hotel Fidalgo, Panjim.

The Geno award is the highest of its kind for any of Goa's
sportspersons. Chess in Goa has suddenly picked up in popularity
and the conferring of this award will put the sport even more in
the spotlight. Youngsters across Goa are taking to the 64 squares and
the maximum requests for coaching camps from schools are for the
enlightening mind game.

Young Anurag thoroughly deserves this award as his feats in the
preceding year defy description. He will gain a staggering 222 points
in ELO rating which is expected to touch 2100 in the October list.
He has had strong performances in various open tournaments in Sangli,
Mangalore and Rochess Thane.

Besides, he won the State Seniors Championship in fine style brushing
aside a strong field to triumph with a round to spare. His coach
Akash Thakur of Nagpur predicts 'greater laurels' for this youngster
and a possible medal at the upcoming Commonwealth Championships to
take place in New Delhi in December.

In the same function, GSCA President and AICF Vice President Sameer A.
Salgaocar was presented the 'Best Organiser' award by the Chief Minister.
Also World and Asian Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana Furtado received a cheque
of Rs. 25,000/- from Mr. Dilip Salgaocar, the head of the Geno Sports
Foundation.

Ivana finishes off in style

2007-08-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana Furtado
finished off her campaign in grand style by
disposing off Ali Alia of U.A.E. in less than one
hour in the last round of the Asian Youth Chess
Championships which concluded in Al Ain, U.A.E.
today.

With this victory, Ivana notched 8 out of possible
9 points to record her first Gold Medal in the Asian
Youth Championships. She becomes thus the
youngest Indian to have bagged both the World and
the Asian Championships - another feat for the
Limca Book of records! She will look to make it three
in a row when she participates in the Commonwealth
Championships to be held in New Delhi in December
this year.

Unfortunately, India could not get any more medals
as Ivana's compatriot C.H. Meghna who is also the
National Under 7 Champion lost in the last round to
Iran's Kimya Ghaziolsharif and finished 5th with 5.5 points.
P.Preethy, also of India, finished with 5 points on 7th place.

Ivana's coach Raghunandan Gokhale gave more cheer
for the Indian camp when his student Shardul Gagare
finished with a victory over Enkhnar Enkhbataar of Mongolia
to win the Gold in Boys Under 10 section. World Champion
Girish Kaushik had to remain content with the Silver here
after beating Sultan Ibrahim of the U.A.E.

India garnered three more Gold medals when B. Pratyusha
in the Girls Under 10, Priyanka Kumari in the Girls Under 12
and Revanth Reddy in the Boys Under 10 section all finished
top in their respective categories. India's tally of 10 medals
(5 Golds, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze) is in stark contrast to the 21
medals that they won in Teheran which included 8 Gold medals
in all the 8 categories.

Finally, the home crowd had great reason to celebrate when
local boy and double IM Norm holder Saleh Salem won the boys
Under 14 section ahead of India's International Master S.P. Sethuraman
who finished with the Silver. Salem, the only Gold medal winner from the
U.A.E. was rewarded with a Nissan car by the sponsors!