It was a Golden start for the Goan chess fraternity in 2008, as not one but
two Goans were declared joint winners and awarded Gold medals in their
respective sections in the Asian Schools Chess Championships which concluded
in Kandy, Sri Lanka today.
In the Boys Under 11 section, Cyrus Perreira created history by becoming the
first Goan boy to win a medal at the International level. Cyrus finished
with 6.5 out of a possible 8 points and was tied with Iran's Saleh Mirza.
Cyrus, by virtue of his rating, started as the second seed, and Saleh Mirza
was clearly the hot favourite as he had beaten former World Champion Sahej
Grover in the World Youth Championships which were conducted last year in
Turkey. Nevertheless, Cyrus fought hard to get a draw in the last round
with Mirza and thus he got a Gold medal in his very first attempt at the
Asian Schools Championships.
In the Girls Under 9 section, double World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana
Furtado tied with Sri Lanka's J. Jayaranthna with 6.5 points each out of a
possible 7 points. As they had drawn their individual encounter and were
tied on tiebreak as well, both the girls were declared joint winners and
given a Gold medal each.
Both the winners - Cyrus and Ivana - will now be invited to the World
Schools tournament to be held later this year at a venue to be decided as
yet by FIDE, the apex body in chess. Interestingly, AICF will be bidding for
the event so there is a chance that both the players will be getting the
benefit of playing closer to home while they aspire for still greater
heights in their chess careers!
SOURCE: Sameer Salgaocar - President - GSCA
