Guntur’s Bommini Mounika Akshaya, a Class VII student of Bhashyam Blossoms, is all set to take part in the World School Individual Chess Championship to be held at Pattaya (Thailand) from May 6 to 16.
This is Mounika’s first overseas tournament this year and she is honing her skills under the tutelage of her coach Murali Krishna based at Ponnur.
She already won a major medal this year when she bagged a bronze in the Nationals School Games tournament at Goa. If she fares well in Thailand, she will get the Fide Master title,” says her father Rama Rao.
Year 2014 has been fruitful to the budding chess player as she won two coveted international titles — silver in the World School Championship in Brazil and gold in the Asian Schools Championship in Taiwan — enabling her to bag World Candidate Master (WCM) title.
Mounika, who started playing chess from 2009, drew the attention of the chess fraternity with her string of victories in the State tournaments.
In 2013, she took part in an international tournament in Sri Lanka and won gold in the under-10 category and did well in the under-10 Asian Youth Chess Championship in Iran by finishing seventh in the standard, fifth in rapid and eighth in blitz.
Financial help
Mounika, who is rated 1585, has approached Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) for financial help.
ACA, under the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been helping sports and games other than cricket by sponsoring the trips of talented players and also events — both national and internationals fixtures.
Year 2014 has been fruitful to the budding chess player, as she won two coveted international titles — silver in the World School Championship in Brazil and gold in the Asian Schools Championship in Taiwan — enabling her to bag World Candidate Master (WCM) title
