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It is not a common experience to see an eleven year old school boy winning District Chess championships in Under 15 age group as well as in Under 19 age group in a span of 20 days…

That’s Abhimanyu Puranik – a wonder kid who has already set ablaze the Chess scenario in not only the city of Pune, but the entire country. The current World Under 10 Bronze Medalist has many victories and achievements under his belt and a mountain of expectations on his shoulders.

A 5th class student of one of Pune’s most prestigious schools, Symbiosis School, Abhimanyu learnt the moves at an early age from Makrand Velankar. Showing maturity and killing instinct beyond his age, his visibility in the chess circuit was noted when he won all the age group tournaments being conducted in Pune! His passion for chess started with playing with his parents and applying some smart moves learnt from his mother's student.

Sameer and Sneha – Abhimanyu’s parents were not just proud of their son but also supported him for all his activities and they noted Abhimanyu’s keen interest in playing Chess. His hunger for Chess drove them to induct Abhimanyu in the year 2005 for higher coaching in Gokhale Chess Academy – run by International Masters Jayant & Chandrashekhar Gokhale.

It was not an easy job for the Gokhale brothers to fathom the tremendous potential Abhimanyu had and there after both of them worked very hard to nurture his Chess talent.

The proud moment for our country arrived when Abhimanyu won the ‘World Schools’ Gold Medal by scoring all 9 points in 9 rounds in the year 2007 in the Under 7 age group category at Haldiki Greece! The result was seen because of the perfect synchronization of Abhimanyu’s hard work, methodical and systematic preparations on all fronts by Jayant & Chandrashekhar and deep dedication by his parents in pushing him up through all difficulties.

While abroad he receives guidance from Dronacharya awardee, Raghunandan Gokhale, mentor to Jayant and Chandrashekhar too.

Following years Abhimanyu was improving by every passing day and tournaments he played in India and abroad. His constant rise in the International rating list was just another evidence of the same. He started playing in Open tournaments to match his wits against an older and stronger opposition and very soon earned himself the due respect for being a dangerous opponent on the board of Chess! He won many Open tournaments during the last two years and has made his mark in senior group as well.

It was again a big achievement in the year 2010 when he won the Bronze Medal in World Under 10 Championship – a feat which was not achieved by any player from Maharashtra till then!

It was by virtue of this and few more great performance(5th place in the PNG International Rating tournament, 2nd place in another Maheshwarananda International Rating tournament) that has made him the number one ranked player in his age group!

Abhimanyu enjoys Chess thoroughly but he also enjoys every game that his age demands like playing with his neighbours with cards and gulli cricket, enjoys the Cricket and Football Worldcup and IPL's with the same zeal that he watches every single game being played in the Chess tournaments.
 

Sakal news paper - 1st Nov 2010


Felicitation by Chief Minister of Maharastra