City girl ranked World No. 2 in Under-10 chess rankings

Alana Meenakshi has won a host of titles all by the age of 10

Child prodigy Alana Meenakshi Kolagatla (10) has made the city proud by being ranked as the World No. 2 in the Under-10 girls’ chess ranking that was recently declared by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), also known as the International Chess Federation.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday along with her parents Madhu and Aparna Kolagatla, Meenakshi said she has been playing on the international circuit for the past three years.

Having achieved the Women Candidate Master (WCM) title, Meenakshi said that her recent performances in Europe across all formats and in the Serbian Women’s League Chess Championship-2021 helped her achieve the high ranking.

Dr. Aparna added that Meenakshi was now qualified to play against higher ranked players and she is just two titles away from becoming an International Master (IM).

“My immediate goal is to secure FIDE Master (FM), which is not far off,” said Meenakshi.

Having started playing chess from the age of seven, Meenakshi had earlier won the Asian Schools U-7 Girls 2018, Classic Gold, Asian Youth U-8 Girls 2019, Rapid Gold, Western Asian U-8 Girls 2019, Rapid Gold and Western Asian U-8 Girls 2019, Blitz Gold.

She is being coached by Chiranjeevi.