On 7/10/2019, we, the students of Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School had the privilege and  honour of meeting Bhakti Kulkarni, the Indian Female  Chess Grandmaster. She has won countless chess tournaments and no amount of words are enough to praise her and her achievements.

The warm hearted Bhakti, started the interactive session by telling us about her journey as a chess player which started at the tender age of 2.5! Her father started giving her training when she was very young and as a result she played her first chess tournament at the age of 4.5 . She won her first State Championship at Bambolim at the age of 6 and then there was nothing stopping her since.

At the age of 7, she played her first Nationals and won the Bronze medal. Giving us insight, she told us ” if you want to achieve something in life and you are very determined to do it then no obstacle in your way can stop you from achieving it”. interestingly, she told us that chess is not only about playing the match, it requires tremendous hard work just like any other sport. In fact, you need to have an amazing level of concentration which she achieved by practicing Pranayam every morning without fail so that it will help her focus on the game in spite of all the stress and pressure to perform. She told us that this game requires studying too, and she spends close to 7 to 8 hours doing that!

The studying involves, analysing the previous games played, planning strategies against the opponent and much more. She also briefed us on the various types of chess games played, i.e., classical, rapid and blitz. Her coach Raghunandan Ghokale believes in practical knowledge rather than theory. Chess being a strategical game, requires one to be alert involving the entire the brain in planning out the next move.

Chess is not just a game, it also teaches you how to be positive and optimistic in life as well. Winning and losing is a part of the game, you cant always keep winning; even the greatest of champions have tasted failures in life but what makes them great isnt their success but their ability to deal with failures. So even if you fail it isnt the end of the world, you must look at the brighter side and the next time you must come with double the enthusiasm and the face the problem.

Bhakti highlighted that you must learn to fight hard against all odds and emerge victorious. By playing chess, you become alert, confident, your memory power increases and you also become a good decision maker.

At the end, she splendidly answered all the questions posed at her. We are indeed very fortunate to receive an opportunity to interact live with the Chess Grandmaster. It was a very motivating session for all the students and we surely learned a lot about chess along with insights on life. At the end, I would like to thank VPD Sir for organizing such a brilliant and enlightening session for us students.

– Prepared by Swarada Deshmukh, Student of STD XI, MAHSS

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