Monginis brand ambassador and National Junior Girls Champion Bhakti Kulkarni
will be part of the Indian Junior team which ill play three norm tournaments
in Spain in the months of June and July this year. These tournaments are the
4th Open Sort International Chess tournament from the 24th June to 2nd July,
2008, the 28th Open Internacional "Villa De Benasque" from the 3rd of July
to the 12th of July, 2008 and the 13th Open Internacional d'Escacs "Ciutat
de Balaguer" from the 14th of July to the 23rd of July, 2008.
This is the second time that the Junior team is going to Spain and on both
the occasions it has been the new AICF team (under Mr. D.V.Sundar) that has
persuaded the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs to sanction this
wonderful opportunity for the Indian Juniors. Last year's team met with
tremendous success and we are hoping fro the same sort of results for Bhakti
and her teammates. It may be recalled that Maharashtra's Soumya Swaminathan
(National Junior Champ before Bhakti) went to Spain as an untitled player,
made three consecutive WIM Norms and came back a Woman International Master.
Meanwhile, in another significant development, the AICF is meeting on the
27th of March to pass a resolution sanctioning out of pocket expenses for
the players going abroad. This will definitely benefit Bhakti and the Indian
junior team and will be a major step to create a player friendly environment
after having cut the annual AICF registration fees from 500 to 250 rupees at
the very outset of the new dispensation.
SOURCE: Sameer Salgaocar - Vice President, All-India Chess Federation
