Bhakti awarded Candidate Master Title

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!

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!

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

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

Bhakti makes WIM Norm

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!

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

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.