The little chess master from Vizag representing the nation

Alana Meenakshi Kolagatla, the 7-year-old chess champion from Vizag is a perfect example of the phrase “Kids can do wonders”. Here is the list of accolades and story of her journey towards becoming a chess master and representing the country in under-8 girls age group.

The Beginning

It all started when Alana was introduced to the board games by her mother, Aparna Kolagatla. The little kid, wondering what the black and white board is used for, started learning about each chess piece. Observing her fascination towards the game, her parents started sending her for chess classes in Vizag.

Alana’s Inspiration

Spending most of the time with her coach, Mr.G. Chiranjeevi, Alana couldn’t think of any other person to be more inspired from. The bonding between the guru (teacher) and shishya (student) has helped Alana reach pinnacles. The other person, TV Rao, Godfather of Alana, a passionate chess player who used to sit and play with Alana for hours speaking to her about the top players in the world also stands as an inspiration to the wonder kid.

The Accolades

Alana had got laurels by winning the district and state Under-7 girls championships with an unbeatable record in the month of May in 2018. She continued her winnings streak and added another gold medal to our country too.  She played 41 Chess games in different formats in three prestigious chess championships back to back from 25th June to 24th July 2018 untiringly. Starting with Common Wealth Championship U-8 girls at New Delhi, one year above her age category and stood 6th, followed by winning the 14th Asian schools championship at Srilanka with four medals ( one gold, one silver and two bronze) for India in under 7 girls category.   Winning gold in the best individual standard format, Alana bagged the WCM (Women Candidate Master) title with her rating reaching 1800 ELO points. Immediately she fought in the toughest battles in the 32nd under 7 girls Nationals at Karnataka, she was tied for gold with another girl, both scoring 10/11 points.

Further into the future

With the above achievements, Alana is an official Indian representative for the next years Under-8 girls Chess World youth cadet, Asian Youth Cadet, Common Wealth, Western Asian Youth and Under-9 girls Chess championship for World Schools, Asian Schools, and Indian Nationals.