7-year-old girl Alana Meenakshi of Vizag chasing her dream to be a grandmaster

Each and every person have a dream and everyone dream to become something in life. Some reach their dreams in a swift manner and some reach a bit slower. At the end of the day, everyone has some dream to become something in life. Just like that, this 7 – year old girl Alana Meenakshi of Vizag also have a dream and this little girl is in a spree of chasing her dreams to be a grandmaster.

Her journey:

Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam has once quoted “You have to dream before your dreams come true”. Alana Meenakshi is a young 7-year-old girl from Visakhapatnam, a bubbly and bright school girl. As you heard “Kids can do wonders”, this young girl has done wonders.

It is really so motivating and a gift to a child if his/her parents support in every way to see their child achieve their dreams. At a young age most kids get introduced with books, but Alana’s mother Aparna Kolagatla; who was a State Junior Champion in Chess, has first introduced Alana to the Chess Board when she was four year’s old, letting her watch the game and play with the chess pieces.

Inspiration people behind Alana’s success story:

By looking at the positive side, Alana got attracted to the game, by looking at her enthusiasm and fascination to learn the game, she was sent to the chess classes in Vizag, her coach is Mr. G. Chiranjeevi. The core of her heart lies in the middle of the checkerboard. She also mentioned that her coach is an inspiration to her and this amazing bond and relationship of teacher and student could take any person to its acme heights and this is what happened in Alana’s case too. The other person who used to be her guide and inspiration is the godfather of Alana, TV Rao who used to play with her for hours, as he is also a passionate chess player.

Education: 

She is one of the top scorers in the schools and proves to be good at academics. Her desire for sporting spirit is the motivational factor to achieve anything. She used to manage schooling and sports with ease, just like a cupcake for her.

Accolades and achievements:

She used to devote daily 10 to 11 hours of time playing and practicing the game of chess. In a span of just 11 months, she had won 21 medals in the district, state, national and international tournaments. She has an indomitable record of her streak winning and achievements. With that streak to keep going in an acclivity manner, the city girl bagged another gold medal and became the Woman Candidate Master to make our city and country proud.

She started with Common Wealth Championship U-8 at New Delhi, followed by winning 14^th Asian Schools U-7 Championship which was held in Srilanka on in April 2019 which was organized by Asian Chess Federation and World Chess Federation. The competition consists of players from 16 different countries in which Alana defeated the Uzbekistan player to become a winner. She won four medals (1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze) in the tournament. Her previous victory was in 2018 for winning a silver medal in U-7, 32^nd National Girls Chess Championship held at Tumkuru Karnataka.

Future:

Alana Meenakshi has set her focus on U-8 Chess World Youth Cadet, Asia Youth Cadet, adding few more and including Indian Nationals too and other big championships. Her role model is Judit Polgar – The only woman who played and won in the Open Category. Her main aim and dream is to be a Grand Master. This 7-year girl is doing wonders. Let’s wish her the all the success ahead. (All the best Alana Meenakshi)

This story is from the My Story section, where contributors share their own journeys. Views and information are the author's own