Telugu bidda Pratyusha honoured

The rising star on the chess horizon and our very own Telugu bidda, 18-year-old Pratyusha Bodda has joined an illustrious band of professionals. She is only the fourth Telugu girl to become a Women International Master (WIM) and joins Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and Lakshmi Sahithi in the league of champions.

Tuesday marked a great day for the Narsipatnam-born player as she was felicitated in the city by none other than Harika and her coach of eight years, N. Ramaraju of the famed Ramaraju Academy of Chess Education (RACE). Winner of several honours, including at the World Youth, Asian and Commonwealth level, the soft-spoken Pratyusha felt ‘honoured by the overwhelming support and celebration I am getting from people I hold in the highest esteem in Hyderabad.’

Typical of the guru, Ramaraju said Pratyusha ‘is a bundle of talent who can go up the ladder and aim for the world junior title if she can work on her openings and end-game moves.’ The ever-humble Harika paid a fitting tribute to the dexterity of veteran coach Ramaraju, under whose wings even she improved upon her skills and became the country’s only second woman after Humpy to get the Grand Master title.

‘I am glad that I could train at the Kothapet-based RACE where the unstinted commitment of the coach helped many budding players to blossom and grow in stature. I am ever grateful to him.’ In her thanksgiving, Pratyusha appealed to sponsors to come to her aid by helping her to sustain and accomplish more honours for the country.