Boon for Vijayawada chess players

Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay to train them for a week from tomorrow

Andhra Hospitals managing director P. Ramana Murthy handing over a cheque for Rs.4,000 to chess player Sai Naga Samhitha in Vijayawada on Friday. Photo: CH. Vijaya Bhaskar

Good news for young chess players of Vijayawada, as they can now gain from training under the watchful eyes of an experienced Grandmaster.

The Krishna District Chess Association (KDCA) and Mustabada Sports and Educational Academy are jointly hosting a week-long GM chess training camp involving veteran GM Pravin Thipsay at Andhra Hospitals at Bhavanipuram from April 14 to 19.

Thipsay will train both rated and rookie players separately.

“It is a boon for the rated players, as they can learn the finer points that will be of help to them in the future. He will spend three days exclusively with them,” said Mustabada Sports and Educational Academy chief coach Bobba Venkateswara Rao.

The camp is sponsored by Andhra Hospitals and the hospitality for the GM is taken care of by Hotel DV Manor. Earlier, the GM camp was held in 2005. We have 20 rated players and out of them 14 are likely to take part in this camp.

Selection tourney

For the unrated players, a selection tourney will held on the Mustabada Sports and Educational Academy premises on April 13 at 10 a.m.

Andhra Hospitals Managing Director P. Ramana Murthy donated a cheque for Rs.4,000 to up-and-coming player Sai Naga Samhitha towards entry fee for the rated tournament scheduled to be held at Tuni (East Godavari) from May 9 to 13.

“We have decided to sponsor the girl for all the FIDE rating tournaments for the year 2013. This (gesture) will help her perform consistently and garner more points,” felt Mr. Ramana Murthy.

Samhitha is an class 8 student at V.P. Siddhartha Public School and has garnered 1,221 points.

Krishna DCA secretary D. Srihari said efforts were on to being more FIDE tournaments to Vijayawada, which was once the hub of national chess.