Four chess players and one mission

Four young chess players are on a mission to the United States of America. They are all set to play two tournaments in two different cities of America in the next two months. For these budding players, these highly competitive encounters will help them enhance their ratings and skills.

Vijayawada’s Potluri Supreetha, Nutakki Priyanka, M. Teja Suresh and Rajahmundry’s Guddanti Harshitha along with coach and mentor V.R. Bobba are leaving on Friday.

Incidentally, they are having lots of experience and have won several medals for Andhra Pradesh and India in different international tournaments. They will participate in Chicago Open from May 26 to 30, World Open from June 30- July 4, Philadelphia International from July 5 -10.

Says V.R. Bobba: “Women FIDE Master and Class IX student of Viswa Bharathi Vidyaniketan Potluri Supreetha is taking part in the Asian School event at Iran in July and World School championship at Russia in December. Priyanka (2073), a Class IX student of Delhi Public School, is keen to do well in World youth under-14 girls championship going to be held at Moscow in September 2016. These tournaments will provide them a platform to master new openings and other strategies”.

Harshita Guddanti (2181), a Class X student of Tripura English Medium School at Rajahmundry, began this year on a positive note by winning a silver medal in Asian Youth under-16 tournament held at Mongolia. She also won medals at Asian and Commonwealth championships last year. “The next major tournament for her will be the World junior championship to be held at Bhubaneswar from August 7,” says Mr. Bobba. Teja Suresh, who is performing consistently in the Andhra Pradesh domestic circuit, this sojourn is the first major international trip. “He gave up chess as he was busy preparing for Intermediate exams. His aim is to become an International Master (IM) in chess. He got a free seat from Koneru Lakshmaiah University and he is keen to improve his skills in these two high rated events,” says Mr. Bobba.