Celestial Minds Chessomania Day With Grandmaster Tejas Bakre
Beginners, Intermediate and Advance followers of Caissa had a treat in store at the ‘Chessomania†event conducted by Celestial Minds at the Radisson Hotel at Chelmsford, Massachusetts, US on 18th April. The star attraction of the event was undoubtedly the flambouyant Indian Grandmaster, Tejas Bakre who gave a Simultaneous display and a seminar for Intermediate and Advanced players.
Kavyashree Mallanna, the Founder Director of Celestial Minds and the Brain behind this exciting event was all smiles after the successful conduct of the programme and explainedâ€
The event was conceptualized and executed in just about a fortnight, immediately after Tejas mentioned about his plans. He however was thrilled to see the response and support of the chess players and students of Celestial Mindsâ€.
The day commenced with the beginners and new-comers (Section A ) being introduced to the fascinating world of the Chess Kingdom, encompassing the 64 squares, the two Kings and their armies. The Celestial Minds Team then got them involved with the movement of the pieces and an introduction to the mental warfare which is carried over 64 squares but involves some mind boggling calculation in terms of sheer numbers. USCF Expert Rated players Joseph Perl, Kavya Mallanna and Dr.K.C.Shashidhar gave simultaneous display while the new students and other players tried their tricks against the Advance students of Celestial Minds..
Kavyashree then regaled the audience with the history of chess (Section B) , spicing it up with some personal humorous anecdotes on how the World’s most technology- assisted sport, these days , once relied on the Post Office to convey ‘Moves ‘to their opponents in other towns and cities . “This was while playing “Correspondence Chess’, the only outlet possible in those days for un-established players to lock horns against other strong players. Forget about the games and latest information available on the internet these days, books too were not easily available and players had plenty of travel issues†added Kavya.
It was followed by a seminar by Bakre for Intermediate and Advanced players where he explained certain concepts with clarity and answered queries posed by the audience. 36 players along with players having a USCF 2100 rating pondered and tried every possible trick they knew to push Bakre on the back-foot. Of the 36 heads bent in unison, it was heart- warming to watch a few father and son combinations scratching their brains in unison to outsmart the overseas GM. Bakre, a former Gold Medallist at the World Youth Olympiad in Russia drew just one game and won the remaining 35 encounters.
Ahmedabad based Bakre had some invaluable tips for the Beginners as well as other enthusiasts, stressing emphatically that the key to success was practice and repetition. Calculating ability is the backbone of chess and this can only be enhanced with constant effort and practise. Bakre also added†Chess is the only game that guarantees results if you put in effortsâ€.
Chess players never cease to learn and practise, the learning goes on for a lifetime and what better anecdote than the one narrated by Bakre to emphasize his point. “ Five times World Champion Viswanathan Anand visited me in Ahmedabad and just while leaving mentioned that he got some ideas that we would like to look at and practice after going homeâ€.
Tejas Bakre along with Kavyashree and a few other local chess players spent some time at the Harvard Square in Massachusetts where chess players often meet and play chess. GM Larry Christiansen and IM Marc Esserson also interacted with the Indian GM.
Prasanna Nagabhushan, president of Celestial Minds felicitated Tejas Bakre on this occasion.
Prize winners in Simul Display based on the performance:
Adult Section : Joseph Perl, Varatharajan Venkatraman, Kishore Tiruveedhula
Boys Section: Robert Sawdey, Raymond Xu, Suhas Katikaneni, Anish Kammila
Girls Section: Ani Perl, Shreeya Gomes
Unrated Section: Kenny Hilario, Neil Khurana, Thejas Basavarajappa
Puzzle Competition Winner: Akhil Kammila
Deepti Navaratna rendered the invocation; Siri Venepalle, Praharshitha Gnaneswar, Rekha Vrushi, Dr.C.J.Kiran, Kishore Tiruveedhula, Janhavi Basavarajappa were the other volunteers who worked to ensure the smooth conduct of this event.Students of Celestial Minds Akhil Kammila, Anish Kammila, Suhas Katikaneni, Rishikesh Girish, Bharath Heggadahalli also pitched in to assist the organizing team.
Please contact Kavyashree Mallanna info@celestialminds.net if you like to enroll for online classes from the grandmaster or chessmasters.
( Manisha Mohite is a senior Chess journalist. She has covered all world chess championships featuring Viswanathan Anand from 1998 till 2014. She has interviewed ten world chess champions.)
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TIME AND TIDE WAIT FOR INDIAN CHESS PLAYERS
BY KAVYA MALLANNA
It is said that time and tide wait for no one but Indian chess friends connect instantaneously regardless of the passage of time or the separation by geographical boundaries. The first time I met Tejas was at the National Sub-juniors at Calicut, way back in 1991. Tejas was a 10-year-old when we met across the chessboard. Our next meeting was after 23 years at Mysore last year and the first thing we recollected was the 1991 meet at the Nationals. It was natural that when he was visiting the United States, that we would host him and it was a pleasure to have him. I have always appreciated an applauded the success tasted by my friends , be it GM Abhijit Kunte, GM Sriram Jha or GM Tejas Bakre. Incidentally these are the friends I acquired after qualifying and playing in the Boys section of the Nationals.
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