Chess Olympiad gold medalist Vidit Gujarathi and women’s team coach Abhijit Kunte, President of Maharashtra Chess Association Dr. Parinay Phuke felicitated. Maharashtra Chess Association Working President Siddharth Mayur. Along with Senior Vice President Anirudh Deshpande, and Honorary Secretary Niranjan Godbole. Treasurer Vilas Mhatre, and Vice President Farooq Shaikh were present at this ceremony.
Women’s team gold medalist Divya Deshmukh and assistant coach Sankalp Gupta could not attend the ceremony. Due to some unavoidable reason, they were felicitated online. Divya said, “I still can’t believe that I won the gold medal at the Chess Olympiad. But Vidit said that this is the result of the penance and sacrifice of the past many years and said that the sacrifice made by my parents has played an important role in my success.”
“As a child in Nashik when I was seven or eight years old. I got the chance to play with Abhijit Kunte and since then we have had a guru-disciple relationship. I would be proud to say that it was because of Abhijeet Dada. The gold success achieved by the women’s teams alongside us at the Chess Olympiad is highly commendable because the comeback they made after a poor performance in two rounds is truly incredible.”
Divya Deshmukh will become the World No.1
Women’s team player Divya Deshmukh is a true genius. Maharashtra Chess Association felicitated Vidit Gujarati and Divya Deshmukh. They were awarded with three lakh rupees each. Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte and Assistant Coach Grandmaster Sankalp Gupta were honored with a check of Rs. Both were felicitated by Sarang Lagu, Amod Pradhan, Joint Secretary of Pune District Chess Circle and PYC Gymkhana.
Stating that the commendable performance of the young players is a very important thing in the success. Abhijit Kunte said, “I am sure that the Indian team will dominate the world chess arena for at least another ten to twelve years. I had told her that you have to play in eleven rounds. She lived up to that belief and played a big role in helping the team win the gold medal. The fact that many people were crowding to take autographs and photographs of D. Gukesh, Vidit, and Divya shows that these players have gained popularity.”
