Vizag girl Alana Meenakshi wins Team Chess Championship 2022

The chess prodigy Alana Meenakshi Kolagatla, a Vizag girl, has once again brought laurels to the country. The young talent has won the Online Asian Nations Cup Under-14 Girls Team Chess Championship 2022. Mrittika Mallick, Anupam Sreekumar, Sneha Halder, Myra Singh were the other teammates under the non-playing captain Prasenjit Dutta who represented India in this championship. The tournament happened between 25 March 2022 and 27 March 2022. The winners were declared yesterday evening and the prizes will be distributed today at 6:30 pm Sri Lankan time.

The tournament, which was held on an online platform, saw the participation of many countries. The young talents from India faced many countries such as Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and others. The Women Candidate Master Alana from Vizag played 5 rounds out of the 9 round championship along with her teammates. The group of 5 were headed by a captain who decided the playing four in each round. Alana, who suffered a loss in the first round, came back strong and breezed through the remaining four rounds to clinch the title along with her team.

Youngest in the team, Alana was said to have played a crucial role against Mongolia in the pre-penultimate round. Speaking on the occasion of her daughter’s victory with Yo! Vizag, Aparna Kolagatla said, ” we were very surprised to receive a mail from the All India Chess Federation mentioning the selection of our daughter for this tournament. She is yet to celebrate her 11th birthday. At the same time, we accepted the letter with pride and got Alana to brush up on her skills as this was the first time she would be playing a team tournament.”

The proud mother also added that her daughter who has won many medals before was a little nervous and calculative as the new format of playing chess online was uncomfortable compared to playing on board. One mistake would now cost the entire team and the nation and Alana did not want to take any chances. The team scored a total of 8 1/2 points out of 9 to win the title of Online Asian Nations Cup Under-14 Girls Team Chess Championship 2022.

“It was a double delight for us. One, she was selected in a team where everyone was elder to her, and second, they picked up the title,” said the happy mother.

When asked about how the star was feeling about her victory, the mother said, “She was very excited as she was representing her country. She put 6-8 hours of practice every day to reach here and the young girl truly believes if there is no pain there is no gain.”

Alana who has just completed her grade 5 exams went through many challenges as the focus of cameras, internet fluctuations and electricity issues were a continuous distraction from the game. Despite all this, the Vizag girl Alana believes that if you don’t enjoy the game of chess you cannot play. With so much confidence and maturity at such a young age, Alana is a true sportsperson.