PANJIM: Woman Grandmaster and goodwill ambassador for Goa Carbon Ltd., Bhakti Kulkarni won the first prize at the International Blitz Chess tournament in Novi Sad, Serbia, recently.
She outdistanced Grandmaster Branko Tadich (runner-up) and International Master Milos Stankovich (third place) among other luminaries.
With this victory, Bhakti who was fourth behind three Chinese super stars in Asian Women Blitz Championship may increase her standings from 84th in the world. “I shall be in top 50 hopefully,” added the champion of speed chess.
The top four players from the tournament qualified for the final played for three minutes each. Every move automatically added two seconds in a player’s clock. In the breathtaking fast placed final, Bhakti outwitted veteran GM Tadich by employing World Champion Anand’s pet line in Catalan defence. Then she sealed her first place by overwhelming International Master Stankovich from white side of slav defence.
The chief guest for the function, Grandmaster Sinisa Drazich was all praise for the Goan. He said that it was unbelievable that a girl could outwit all these veterans of speed chess. GM Josimovich of Makedonia extended an invitation to Bhakti to one of the strongest tournaments in Europe, The Korpus Open to be held in April, 2016.
Bhakti left directly from Novi Sad to Kolkata where she will represent Goa in the National Woman Premier Championship.
