the goan I network
PANAJI
National woman chess champion Bhakti Kulkarni has been called up by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) to join the Indian chess team, which got a wild card entry in the prestigious World Team Championship, which starts from Tuesday at Astana.
According to a press communique from Goa Chess Association secretary Kishor Bandekar, Bhakti was contacted by AICF secretary Bharat Singh Chouhan and the Goan chess star travelled to Delhi late Sunday night, where she was given Indian team’s blazer before boarding a flight for Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
The World Team Championship is played between 10 countries which are either continental champions or are medallists in the Olympiad. Since China is both continental champion as well as gold medallists in the Olympiad, India were invited as wild card entrants. Other teams, besides China, are USA, Russia, Hungary, Ukraine, Egypt, Georgia, Armenia and hosts Kazakhstan.
“This is great opportunity for me. Playing against Chinese, Russian, Americans in the same tournament is like a dream,” said Bhakti. “I must thank the federation which worked very hard to get me visa as a very special case and I am lucky to be accompanied by DV Sundar, FIDE Vice-president, from Delhi to Astana.”
Bhakti’s team members are IM Eesha Karavade, IM Tania Sachdev, IM Soumya Swaminathan and IM Padmini Rout. National woman champion Bhakti -- a Goa Carbon Ltd Goodwill Ambassador -- is the first Goan to represent India in the official World Team
Championship.
The final outcome in the championship is unpredictable, as half of the teams can logically aim for top places. The historic battle between title-holder Russia and 2018 Olympic champion China will be troubled by ambitious teams like the Ukraine, India or Georgia.
