Chhattisgarh

• 09 Nov 2022

Chhattisgarh Chess Player Kiran Agarwal Appointed Coach of Indian Chess Team

Why in News?

• On November 7, 2022, the All India Chess Federation has appointed renowned international chess player Kiran Agarwal from Chhattisgarh as the coach of the Indian chess team. Earlier in 2004, Kiran Agarwal had achieved the distinction of becoming the coach of the Indian Chess Team.

Key Points

• Kiran Agarwal of the steel city of Bhilai will be a coach in the 16-member Indian team to be included in the Commonwealth Chess Championship to be held in Sri Lanka from November 13 to November 23.
• Apart from Kiran Agarwal, Praveen Thipsay, V. Ravichandran and Prasannajit Dutta have also been appointed as coaches of the Indian chess team.
• Kiran Agarwal is the only woman chess player from the state to be conferred the title of Women FIDE Master by the World Chess Federation. It is known that at the time of chess Olympiad, the torch relay was brought in Chhattisgarh, in which Kiran Agarwal also got the privilege of holding the flashlight.
• Kiran has proved her mettle with her performances while representing India in more than 15 major countries like London, Dubai, Germany, Yugoslavia, Bangladesh, Doha (Qatar).
• In view of his achievements, the then Madhya Pradesh government awarded him the 'Vikram Award' in 1986.
• Chhattisgarh State Chess Association State Secretary Hemant Khute said that Vinod Rathi and Kiran Agarwal of the state are such celebrities of the chess world, who have proved to be very lucky for the country. In 2001, Vinod Rathi went to Athens (Greece) as the coach of the World Junior Under-20 Indian team, where the women's title was won by Koneru Humpy. At the same time, in the year 2004, Kiran Agarwal got a chance to go to Lebanon as the coach of the Indian team, in which the Indian team got a silver medal.