Checkmate: Meet Alana from Vizag, World Number 2 in Under-10 girls chess

Visakhapatnam: Alana Meenakshi Kolagotla from Visakhapatnam has become World No. 2 in under-10 girls' chess.

Alana received the honor after FIDE updated the rankings on Wednesday. Alana with an ELO rating of 1829 has many credible performances.

She won the gold in the Asian school under-7 category in 2018. She was ranked sixth in Commonwealth US girls chess and 13th in the World Schools U-7 chess in 2018. She won gold in Asian Youth U-8 in 2019. She was also under-7 and under-9 champion in the state. She is presently an under-10 titleholder.

"I enjoyed playing the game and then my parents engaged coach Chiranjeevi. He taught me a lot. I play with my brother Dhruv Advait and always beat him", she said.

Chiranjeevi said she is one of the best players in the city. "She was five when I started coaching her. She is not just talented but also committed and dedicated", he said.

He said she wanted to beat the strongest player in the Asian Schools tournament in 2018. "Her opponent was from Uzbekistan. We planned carefully. We trained till 2 am. Without showing any signs of strain, she beat the player. Alana has very good intuition and can understand her opponent well," he said.

Alana's mother Dr. Aparna, who is planning to give up her job as a scientist to spend more time with her child, said she practices six to eight hours a day and up to 14 hours during tournaments.