Celestial Minds celebrated its annual Chess extravaganza on Sep. 22, 2013 in Hotel Radisson, Nashua, NH. The honorable mayor of Nashua, Donnalee Lozou, graced the occasion and inaugurated the event, along with chief guests Srinivas Ambati and Prof. Premaleela Mallanna. Guests and audience were greeted by advisory members Prasanna Nagabhushan and Ravi Torvi.

Mr. Ambati, a chess player and tutor himself, had inspiring words to share with the audience. “Learning the basics is all that is required for chess. Once you know the basics, you’ll start enjoying the game and having fun,” he said. He also told the parents that if they learn chess, they will learn how to be patient, which in turn will help them in parenting.  

Prof. Premaleela, who inspired her daughter Kavyashree Mallanna not only to play chess but to start Prema Chess Lab back in 2003, was honoured to be present for the 10th year anniversary. She had some pearls of wisdom to share as well that delighted all the feminists in the audience. She pointed out that the Queen was the only female chess piece but the strongest. Most in the crowd realized that they had never thought of that! She also suggested that chess is such a strong brain game that it helps keep diseases like Alzheimer’s away.

Looking at the playing crowd, it was clear that many thought of the game as a fun exercise for the brain. Not just the winners but even the children who lost or drew a match appeared to be in an upbeat mood and were seen discussing how they beat a player who was ranked higher than them.

The event was a feather in the cap for Celestial Minds because Prema Chess Lab was started with only two students and very few friendly matches here and there. Its offspring Celestial Minds was proud to have come this far where it organised USCF rated events by its tenth anniversary. Kavyashree Mallanna, too, added a few feathers to her cap by being shortlisted for the International Organizer's seminar, organized by the World Chess Federation in New York by Vice President of FIDE, Beatriz Marinello and she also played the International Chess Festival in Las Vegas and fared well with two wins and three draws.

The sunday event saw some great chess games and got clear winners in the United States Chess Federation Categories. During the award ceremony, Celestial Minds thanked the parents of participating children for their constant support and also their proud supporter Telesky. It is due to the overwhelming support of chess-lovers like them that Celestial Minds continues to grow with renewed energy, each year.

Results:

K-12 USCF Rated Category #

1. Michael Yu

2. Udhay Vijay

3. Bharath Hegadahalli

4. Suhas Katikaneni

5. Shrujal San


K-3 USCF Rated Category#

1. Aryan Mitta

2. Arush Sathu

3. Meghana Kancharla

4. Saanvi Tiruveedhula

5. Avneesh Prabakar

Unrated Section#

1. Aayush Patel

2. Vittal Ranganath

3. Vishnu Ranganath

4. Brian Kreger

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