VISAKHAPATNAM: A child chess prodigy has made the city proud. Eight-year-old Kolagatla Alana Meenakshi, a Class 3 student of Timpany School, won two golds and a silver in Western Asian Junior and Youth Chess Championship, which concluded in New Delhi on Wednesday.Alana Meenakshi has dominated all the chess formats in Under-8 girls, with two gold in rapid and blitz and one bronze on classic format winning three medals for India.
On her return from New Delhi speaking to media persons here, Alana said, “I am was feeling very happy with her performance at the championship. Aparna, my mother, is my first guru.”Aparna, scientist, said she played for the State when she was in college. She said she spotted the spark in Alana when she was four years old. She introduced chess to Alana as a board game and observed that her child was picking up. Then from November 2017 she started proper coaching locally. Alana was now being trained by woman grandmaster Aarthie Ramaswamy and her Chess Gurukul coaches in Chennai, she said.
Alana won the district and State Under-7 girls chess championships with an unbeatable record in the May 2018. She continued her winning streak. She later won four medals, including one gold and one silver, at the 14th Asian schools chess championship in Sri Lanka. Alana bagged the Women Candidate Master (WCM) title with her rating reaching 1,800 ELO points.
Alana was an official Indian representative for 2019, Under-8 girls World Cadet, Asian Youth, Commonwealth, Western Asian Youth and Under-9 girls Chess championship for World Schools and Asian Schools.In Asian Youth 2019, Alana won two gold in girls under 8 rapid format both in individual and team. In Under 9 Nationals, at Ahmedabad held from August 3 to 11 she got the eligibility for the next year’s all Under-10 international events.