Visakhapatnam chess prodigy Alana Meenakshi receives the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

An 11-year-old from Visakhapatnam receives the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2023 for exceptional achievement in sports

The 11-year-old chess prodigy from Visakhapatnam, Alana Meenakshi Kolagatla, is on cloud nine. Alana, who is ranked world number one in the U-12 girl’s category by FIDE (International Chess Federation), received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2023 for exceptional achievement in sports category earlier this week in New Delhi.

She was among the 11 children who were selected for the award this year and received the honour from President Droupadi Murmu. She was awarded a medal, a cash prize of ₹1 lakh and a certificate.

The Class VI student has been consistently holding the top three world rankings in her category by FIDE for over a year. Alana was introduced to chess at the age of six. Within 10 months of professional coaching, she started playing international chess and soon won a gold in the 14th Asian Schools Chess Championship organised by the Asian Chess Federation and World Chess Federation. In 2019, she bagged gold for India in the Asian Youth Chess Championship in the rapid format in the under-eight girls category.

“Alana is focused about her game. I have seen her evolve from a playful girl to a chess player with a desire to improve and progress. There are times when she had to forego the little joys of childhood for the discipline and practice that the game demands. And she has accepted it,” says Alana’s mother Aparna Kolagatla, speaking over phone from New Delhi.

Alana will be returning to Visakhapatnam this week and will be focusing on her school final exams before she starts preparing for the European tournaments from May.

Chasing the dream of becoming a grandmaster, the young champion says: “My role model is Judit Polgar, the only woman who played and won in the open category. I want to be like her one day.”