PANJIM: The 41st Women National chess challenger was inaugurated by Goa’s Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza at a glittering function held, at Peddem sports complex, Peddem, Mapusa, on Saturday.
Goan players who achieved FIDE titles and best players and Goa’s best Taluka Chess Association’s were felicitated by the Deputy CM. The function was declared open after Francis D’Souza played a few moves with recently crowned Commonwealth Women Champion, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni.
Following are the players who were felicitated: IM Anurag Mhamal (Best player of the year award in open category), WGM Bhakti Kulkarni (Best women player of the year), WIM Ivana Furtado (Commendable performance award in girl’s category), Rohan Ahuja (Commendable performance award in boy’s category), Ponda Taluka Chess Association (Best Taluka Association in developed Taluka category), Mormugao Taluka Chess Association (Commendable performance award in developed Taluka category)
Title awards were given to IM Anurag Mhamal for achieving International Maste, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni for achieving Women Grand Master, WIM Ivana Furtado for achieving Women International Master, CM Nitish Belurkar for achieving Candidate Master, WFM Riya Savant for achieving Women Fide Master, CM Leon Mendonca for achieving Candidate Master, Gunjal Chopdekar for achieving WCM title performance at Asian School Chess championship and Swera Braganca for achieving WCM title performance at Asian School chess championship.
Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar could not attend the function. However, the event was graced by the presence of Ravindra Dongre, Treasurer of All India Chess Federation; Vinay Tendulkar, President, Goa Chess Association and Kishor Bandekar, secretary of GCA.
