Celestial Minds, an organization with a mission to make chess a popular sport in New England, treated chess lovers with a fantastic event on April 20th-- the USCF Rated New England Junior Open Chess Championship.

The corridors of Hotel Radisson, Nashua echoed the delightful cries of boisterous children throughout the event clearly indicating that the event was a stupendous success.  Congratulations to Kavyashree Mallanna and her team for a flawless execution. Kavyashree’s immense commitment to Celestial Minds mission was evident as this event brought hundreds of people comprising of parents and prominent personalities together to celebrate Chess. More than 57 players, both rated and unrated, from all over New England competed for the prestigious  title. Players showed great amount of resolve keeping the spectators on their toes till the end.

Four rounds of an hour each, were played by every player in a Swiss League G30 format. It was a meditative atmosphere as only players were allowed inside the event hall, but then the contest went down to a playoff match between  two players, Bharath Heggadahalli and Michael Yu, who tied at the top with a perfect 4/4 score. The doors were then open for the spectators to witness the final tie-break. It lasted ten minutes during which each minute and move kept the audience enthralled. It was a  nail-biting tie-breaker as both players showed tremendous will power, concentration and zeal and did not let the presence of a looming crowd of spectators, affect their game. In the end, Bharath Heggadahalli took home the K-12 NE Junior Open Chess Championship trophy while Michael Yu was declared the K-7 Champion. In the K-3 category, Abhinav Govindraju won the Championship. Celestial Minds had included the Unrated category to encourage new chess players and Shashank Vasanth won the title with a perfect 4/4 score.

It was delightful to have the Honorable Mayor of Nashua, Ms. Donnalee Lozou, grace the occasion in spite of her busy schedule. She interacted with the children and as always, had beautiful and inspirational messages for the participating players.  “Thank you," she said, "I am thanking you all because you have realized how important a game of chess is, you are learning about strategy,planning and discipline. And those of you who are still young, you have an opportunity to be in it for a long time. And those of you who are going to college you can be a part of a group with common interests.“  She thanked and congratulated Kavyashree and her team for bringing USCF rated events to town that drew players from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachussetts.

Chief Guest, Mr.Mike Lachance, CEO of YMCA Nashua, who is a chess enthusiast inspired the young crowd with his speech. Echoing the Mayor, he, too, asked the players to apply to their lives all the lessons that chess has to offer. His message of “All of you are Kings and Queens,” left an indelible mark on the young minds. He got some giggles during his speech, too, when he said with a wink, “There will come a time in your lives when you’ll have to sacrifice your knight to win someone else’s Queen!”. He also gave a simultaneous chess display after the final round that kept the players excited.

Special Guest of the event Mr.Ravi Torvi, Engineering Manager, Juniper Networks and a well known musician in New England distributed medals during the prize distribution ceremony. Mr. Torvi is also one of the advisory team members of Celestial Minds and has been instrumental in organizing many successful chess events in the past. Tournament arbiter Bob Messenger, who had earlier inaugurated the event, joined Mr. Ravi Torvi and president of Celestial Minds, Mr.Prasanna Nagabhushan, in encouraging the youngsters during the award ceremony.

Team members Mr.Venu Sathu and Mr.Kishore Tiruveedhula engaged players with puzzles and Simultaneous displays.

Celestial Minds conducted this USCF rated event with the support of Mr.John Elmore, Alex Releya and Hal Terrie from  Massachusetts and New Hampshire Chess organization. Kavyashree hopes to bring many more USCF rated events and provide more platforms and opportunities to youngsters. To reciprocate the love New England has always bestowed upon Kavyashree’s team, Celestial Minds announced  a special “Prema Chess Trophy” to recognize outstanding achievements by youngsters in the field of Chess. Celestial Minds is an offshoot of Prema Chess Lab that was started by Kavyashree in 2003 and the trophy is to celebrate its tenth year anniversary this year.

NE Junior Open Chess Championship Standings:

K-12 USCF RATED Category:
1. Bharath Heggadahalli MA, CHAMPION
2. Michael Yu MA
3. Daniel Robert Faubel MA

K-7 USCF RATED Category:
1. Michael Yu MA CHAMPION

K-3 USCF RATED Category:
1. Abhinav Govindaraju NH,  CHAMPION
2. Kaival Shah NH
3. William Colglazier Maine

Unrated Category:
1. Shashank Vasanth WINNER
2. Akash Shaji
3. Jasper Xu

Celestial Minds will be hosting summer camps and crash courses this June. Celestial Minds will be bringing one more USCF Rated event this Fall. Celestial Minds is an offshoot of Prema Chess Lab started by Kavyashree Mallanna in 2003, and proudly celebrates its tenth year anniversary this year.  As a part of this Celestial Minds will be recognizing  upcoming talents with special awards. Please contact info@celestialminds.net  to register for Summer Camps and to enroll for events.

Celestial Minds is pleased to have Sterling Smiles-a professional family dentistry and India New England (e-news portal) as supporters and media partners.

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