Checkmate: M.S. Thej Kumar / by Special Arrangement
M.S. Thej Kumar is doing all the right things to become a Grandmaster
Mysore’s M.S. Thej Kumar, IM (International Master) has made rapid strides towards his goal of becoming a Grand master.
He is the highest ranked player in Karnataka. With an ELO rating of 2452, he needs 48 more points to get his Grand Master title. Ranked 35th in the country and 1573 in the world, this South Western Railway employee has been a consistent performer.
Triple Grand Master Norm holder, and seeded 20th in the tournament, Thej’s eight move draw with GM Deepan Chakravarthy was enough to give him his maiden National B chess title when he clinched the coveted trophy at Bhopal with 10.5 points from 13 rounds.
He became the first Karnataka player to win the National B chess title. He has wins against OP Yadhav, Rohan Ahuja, Abhishek Das, WGM Padmini Rout, Vishnu Prasanna, IM Ashwin Jayaram, IM Swayms Mishra, IM K Ratnakaran.
He drew with GM G B Prakash, GM S P Sethuraman, IM Akshat Khamparia, IM Debashish Das and GM Deepan Chakravarthy. He gained 30.5 ELO points with his performance in this tournament.
A superior tie-break score earned this hard working International Master from Mysore win the title after Ashwin Jayaram matched his winning tally.
With this win, Thej also qualified for the National A Championships scheduled to be held at Jalgaon, Maharashtra in December 2013. Significantly, the top four seeds, Deep Sengupta, B Adhiban, M R Lalith Babu and S P Sethuraman failed to make the top 9 bracket.
“I want to play in as many tournaments as possible so that I can achieve the target. I am grateful to my employers, the State Government and my sponsors,” says this soft spoken chess champ from Mysore.
With support from Yashasvi Shankar of Saanvi technologies, USA and www.mysoresport.com, and the airfare being paid by the Government of Karnataka, Thej has been able to participate in several international tournaments.
He recently played in the Montepellier International chess tournament in France during July 2013, where he finished third.
He also represented South Western Railways in the 66th Inter-Railway chess championship at Hubli in October 2013 and helped his team secure the runner-up spot.
Although Thej was awarded the IM title in 2009 by FIDE, he first shot into prominence at the National ‘B’ chess championship in Aurangabad in 2011, where he finished second. He followed that with good performances at the Rajiv Gandhi All-India Open Chess tournament at Delhi and in the 32nd National team championships in Goa.
In 2010, he also finished second in the National B tournament held at Bhiwani and in the 2009 National B tournament held in Goa he finished fourth.
Thej — a post-graduate from Mysore University — has represented his University at the all-India inter-university championships and won a silver medal.
He lives in Mysore with his wife, M K Jayashree, and coaches upcoming players at the Mysore Professional Chess Academy. His success on the National and International scene will provide huge encouragement to the chess fraternity in India, and Karnataka in particular.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sports> Other Sports / by C.K. Muralidharan / Bangalore – November 10th, 2013
HIS nine-game second Grandmaster norm was achieved after he conceded a walkover in the second round when he overlooked the playing schedule.
RAMESH KURUP
Overcoming this handicap, the 39-year-old Devaki Venkataraman Prasad of Indian Oil, Bangalore, added this norm to the 11-game first Grandmaster norm he achieved at the Sakthi GM Tournament in Chennai in 1996. He now has two norms covering 20 games and needs another norm covering at least four games to become India’s next Grandmaster.
In the process of achieving the norm, Prasad also remained undefeated and tied for the second to fifth places at the Grandmaster Open in Dortmund on July 22 for his best performance in five years.
As he was waiting for his taxi to leave Dortmund for Biel, Prasad spoke to The Sportstar.
Excerpts:
Question: How does achieving your second Grandmaster norm feel?
Answer: It gives me immense satisfaction. Especially the way I played here. There were no hiccups in any of my games. I am happy that I made my second Grandmaster norm. If I make one more norm I will be achieving the title. Though it has come a bit late – after nearly five years since my first norm – I still have confidence in myself and I did some preparation before coming on this European tour.
Is it not a gamble that you took by not playing in the National ‘B’ at Nagpur and opting for this expensive trip to Europe?
No. I will put it the other way. I thought if I became a Grandmaster, anyway I can play the National championship. I also wanted to complete my norms quick since my first norm was in 1996. So I decided to play in as many strong Grandmaster tournaments as possible abroad and in India so that I make the title.
So, was there a lot of pressure on you due to the forfeit, as well as the weak Elo rating of the field?
When I arrived here I was expecting the field to be much stronger. When I found there were only seven Grandmasters I realised it would be very difficult to make the category average. There was no player above 2,600 rating. Forfeiting a game worsened it. Because of the streak of wins I could make up my performance rating which I had not anticipated earlier.
How did it feel to play the classical seven-hour control after playing the four-hour control in New Delhi?
I feel seven-hour control is still okay, I am quite comfortable. I did not have much problems in four- hour controls, but playing two rounds in a day in events like the National championship really puts pressure on all the players.
Does it favour any one group?
No, it doesn’t favour any single person. Even if a player is able to play fast, accuracy can’t be maintained in a four-hour game in all the games, especially when there are two rounds. We had this experience twice: in the Zonals in Colombo and in the National ‘A’ championship in New Delhi.
What went wrong for you in the Zonals and the National ‘A’?
In the Zonals, I was playing after a gap of three months. I had not played from January to April. So, I had a loss in my very first round. After that I made up, but it was not possible to be in the race for the championship because it was dominated fully by the Indian players.
In the National ‘A’ I lost a crucial game in the penultimate round. That put me off and I had to be content with the eighth place.
Which was your best victory in Dortmund and what is special about it?
It was my victory over Grandmaster Vladimir Belikov of Russia because it was a very hard fought and lengthy game. I needed a lot of planning to improve from a slight edge to win the game. I was able to convert it into a king side attack and finally I won an ending.
Was there something new in your approach?
Not really. I faced a lot of 1.e4 players this time. So there were many Sicilian games in this tournament. Even in the lone game where my opponent played 1.d4 it got converted into a Sicilian! It was like I had five black Sicilian games and I scored 4.5/5. That was the key in this tournament.
Where to from here?
At Biel we have a round tomorrow (July 23). Then I will play the Asian Championship at Kolkata.
Was bringing your wife along helpful?
It was very helpful. This is the first time she is accompanying me abroad. Also I am again planning to play a lot of tournaments in Europe.
India is now one of the stronger countries in chess and visitors lose Elo. Do you have this feeling that it is easy to earn Elo points outside India than at home?
Definitely. In most of my trips to Europe I have invariably gained rating. The reason is that many of the Indian players are under-rated. They play much better than their strength of 2300 or 2375. They are playing at a higher level than their rating. As a result, making norms or trying to improve rating is an uphill task at home compared to coming here. Here, twenty-five hundred is a normal rating.
Do you work with any particular person or do you work alone?
For this trip I did it alone. Sometimes I work with Abhijit Kunte.
How did it feel coming to Dortmund and how does it feel leaving this place?
When I left India I was desperate to make the norm. I was edged out narrowly in the National championship. I skipped the National ‘B’. I want the GM title. It has been five years since I won my first norm. After this series, I may play one tournament in the Gulf. These events come one after the other and I thought even if I click in one of them, the title is there.
What prize money did you get and what support did you receive from your employers?
Here I received 600 German Marks (Rs.12,600) for the second to fifth prize besides the appearance fee. Indian Oil is supporting me fully. We get a lot of time to prepare. Sponsorship is there whenever we play abroad. This is done by the PSCB. This has helped a lot since it is very difficult for a player to come to Europe spending his own money.
Is it a one-off or do they do it periodically?
It is done on a case by case basis. If the performance is good they keep sanctioning. If a player is in the National team and is generally doing well his expenses are paid.
The Petroleum Sports Control Board has won the National team championship and is the strongest team in India. Will they lose interest like the Bank Sports Board did some years ago?
PSCB has won the National team championship over the last four years. I was a member in all four. I don’t think the interest will die down that early because most of the players are relatively recent recruits. Many of the players are doing very well. Kunte and Sasikiran became Grandmasters after joining. Besides, there are many youngsters like Ganguly and Ramesh and so on. Recently Konguvel gained a GM norm.
PSCB has many chess players who have unconfirmed jobs. Does this put pressure on the players to perform all the time?
I think it is the only company which is having this policy. PSCB is a governing organisation. In Indian Oil we don’t have this problem but there are some companies who do so. Those players try to prove by performance.
Do you think the challenge for PSCB from Bank Sports Board in team competitions is a thing of the past?
Yes. It is slowly fading away. A lot of players went out of BSB and I was also one of them.
source: http://www.sportstaronnet.com / The Sports Star / Home> Chat-D.V.Prasad / byArvind Aaron / Vol.24, No.34 – August 25-31st, 2001
Pradeep Kini, Associate Professor at Faculty of Architecture, Manipal University, Manipal, with Prof. Thomas W. Malone, Director, Center for Collective Intelligence, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Prof. Harvey Michaels, Research Director of Energy Efficiency Practice and Innovation, MIT at the Crowds and Climate Conference at MIT earlier this month / The Hindu
Pradeep Kini, Associate Professor at Faculty of Architecture, Manipal University, carved a niche for himself by winning the Judges Choice Award in the ClimateColab Buildings contest conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, U.S.A.
According to a press release issued by Manipal University here on Saturday, Prof. Kini received the award from Prof. Thomas W. Malone, Director, Center for Collective Intelligence, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the Crowds and Climate Conference held at MIT earlier this month.
Prof. Kini took the opportunity to discuss with several industry experts, policy makers and academicians on ways to implement the proposal on the development of climate responsive smart building in India. His proposal was adjudged winner from 600 entries that were evaluated in several rounds by the judges.
Prof. Kini is working on a tool to optimize the fenestration systems of buildings in the proposed smart cities in India. It will help fenestration to be more energy efficient while considering the lifecycle costs for wider applicability.
The proposed tool considers the various climatic zone design parameters while recommending the optimal fenestration assembly for the buildings designed in developing nations.
The tool once developed will have a positive impact on energy usage in the energy intensive commercial building sector.
Prof. Kini completed his Masters in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002 and has worked on several commercial, residential and hospitality projects in USA and India. He is a USGBC LEED accredited professional, the release said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Ganesh Prabhu / Manipal – November 16th, 2014
All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH), Mysuru, in its Golden Jubilee year, is hosting the annual symposium of Acoustical Society of India — Acoustics 2014 — from Nov. 12 to 14.
The inaugural function will be held at 9.30 am on Nov. 12 at AIISH Seminar Hall, Knowledge Park, Manasagangotri. Dr. Vishwa Mohan Katoch, Secretary, Department of Health Research and Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi and Padma Bhushan Dr. V.K. Aatre, former Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and former Director General, DRDO, Government of India, will be the chief guests.
Prof. K.S. Rangappa, Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore, will be the guest of honour. Dr. S.R. Savithri, Director, AIISH and Dr. V. Rajendran, President, Acoustical Society of India, will be present.
The theme of this year’s symposium is “Acoustics for better speech.” The objective of this symposium is to have a deep insight on the acoustic activities in the country and to trigger future research activities in this field. The symposium would be attended by more than 250 Indian and few foreign participants who are researchers, acoustical experts, students and practicing specialists.
Prof. Ajish K. Abraham, convener of the symposium, said that there will be four plenary talks, four invited talks and two memorial lectures. In all, 65 research papers would be presented at the symposium.
Profile of the guests
Dr. Vishwa Mohan Katoch is the Founder Secretary of Department of Health Research, Government of India and has made significant contributions towards medical research in the country. As a developer of modern methods of rapid diagnosis of TB, leprosy, DNA chips, DNA finger printing methods etc., he has contributed to expansion of mandate of JALMA from leprosy to all mycobacterial diseases.
Padma Bhushan Dr. V.K. Aatre has served DRDO in various capacities as Chief Controller, Director General and Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister George Fernandes. He was awarded Padma Bhushan award in 2000 by the then President K.R. Narayanan. After his retirement in 2004, he is working as Prof. Emeritus at Department of Electrical Communication, Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Bangalore.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Tuesday , November 11th, 2014
City-based Raman Fibre Science (RFS), a technology and innovation company, was bought over by the US-based Hollingsworth & Vose Company (H&V) for an undisclosed amount.
Raman Fibre Science is a technology and innovation-driven company specialising in wet-laid, fibre-based materials for filtration media and battery separator applications. The company was started by Mysore industrialist Aroon Raman after he sold the hugely successful Raman Boards in Mysore to ABB of Switzerland.
Speaking to Som, Aroon Raman said after he sold the previous company, he and a few of the old staff from Raman Boards with strong research and development skills formed RFS to create unique composite materials.
Aroon says, “We wanted to create something unique, so we decided to come up with a new battery separator material.” He also says, “the low interest loans we availed from the Department of Science and Technology, which was about 5%, helped us scale up and within a few years, we had our material and marketed it to battery makers, not only in India but other parts of the world.” Speaking of how H&V noticed them, Aroon says, “H&V is the biggest company in the world making composite materials; they noticed us as our product was unique and they also wanted to enter India and we were a perfect fit with good R&D products”.
Commenting on the acquisition, H&V CEO Val Hollingsworth in a release said, “RFS has developed some very unique and innovative products. Also for us India represents an exciting market and RFS Mysore’s location and team provide H&V a strong, on-the-ground operational base with which we can grow our India presence.”
Aroon Raman, who will continue to be on the Board of Directors said, “We are both privately held companies with world-class technical capabilities” and added, “now RFS has only one production line but soon a second one will come up.”
Aroon also informed that RFS Mysore is headed for a massive expansion and will provide lots of jobs. More importantly he made it clear that RFS is all set to become H&V’s biggest low-cost innovation centre.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home>General News / Saturday , November 08th, 2014
Shorin Kai India team: (standing from left) Sensei. Hama Moto, Sensei. Itaru Ota, Kyoshi. Kinjo, Hanshi. Keishun Kakinohana, Shihan. S. Sunil Kumar , Kyoshi. Akaiki, Sensei and H.K. Deepak (front row from left) Nataraj, Shuchith Gowda, Revanth Gowda and Arjun A. Gowda.
Mysuru :
The members of Shorin Kai India who participated in the Okinawa Shorin Kai Kata Championship-2014 held at Futenma Indoor Auditorium, Okinawa, Japan on Nov. 5, have won four gold and two silver medals.
Shihan. Sunil Kumar, Arjun A. Gowda, H.G.Nataraju and H.K.Deepak (Hassan) have won the first place (gold medals)while C.P. Revanth Gowda and Shuchith Gowda secured silver medals.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home>Sports News / Friday, November 07th, 2014
With University of Mysore (UoM) gearing towards its Centenary, it seems that some exciting steps are being taken by the University to enter the international academic community.
As part of these steps, a day-long workshop has been organised by UoM in association with the Alabama University of Huntsville, USA on Nov. 8 at 11 am at Maharaja College Centenary Hall.
According to a press release, circulars have already been sent to the Principals of all the University affiliated colleges to bring in ten of their most meritorious students who are pursuing their final year B.Com., B.B.M., B.B.A and B.Sc.
Speaking to SOM, Director of College Development Council Prof. Lingaraj Gandhi said that the workshop will be inspiring the students of various affiliated colleges to pursue their higher education at Alabama University. He added that the workshop will emphasise on the fact that not just technical students, but also other graduate students can pursue their higher education in the USA.
The idea behind this workshop is to develop relations among other international Universities, said Prof. Lingaraj Gandhi and also added that the University is looking forward to establish new ties in the global level. He also said that nearly 200 meritorious students from 40 to 50 colleges are expected to take part in this workshop.
Prof. Lingaraj told SOM that the workshop will be providing an insight on the admission process, scholarships, research assistantship and other information related to higher education at Alabama University.
He also added that H.S. Ranganath of Computer Science Department in Alabama University and Prof. Susan Steele will be presenting the slides on these subjects while UoM Vice-Chancellor Prof. K.S. Rangappa will be presiding over the workshop.
Prof. Lingaraj Gandhi, Prof. G. Hemant Kumar and Harsha Patel of Alabama University will be present on the occasion.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home>General News / Friday, November 07th, 2014
Mangalore University on Wednesday launched the global document verification system for certificate and mark list making it the first state university in Karnataka to do so. The system will enable the University to bring to students and global alumni of the university various advantages. This includes faster verification, cost effective, transparent and efficient, prevents document frauds, facilitates single platform for multiple verification requests.
In addition, it offers paperless verification of degrees/mark sheets online. It is also a onetime verification option with multiple download options and ensures highly secure data privacy and has been developed by Myeasydocs.com. To verify Mangalore University issued certificates or mark lists, alumnus or any other document user only needs to upload the said documents at www.mangaloreuniversity.directverify.in and make an online payment.
University will verify credentials of uploaded certificate/ mark list with its records. On completion, an email with link of verified document will be sent to requesting party. To ensure high security, system uses internationally approved system data privacy encryption technologies and reliability processes. These include logins, one time password, automatic embedding of verifier credentials and verification result onto the certificate/marks list to leave an audit trail.
www.Mangaloreuniversity.directverify.in has been launched because of numerous fake documents that are reported and have hampered credibility of various institutions thereby rendering the certificates issued to students to lose their value. Mangalore University’s participation in the paperless verification mechanism will curtail the fake document menace and most importantly, ensure credibility of Mangalore University’s certificates and mark lists. System will also facilitate interlinking of various institutions and universities enabling expeditious admissions of student from different institutions. The Greens will also have a reason to cheer for as this e-governance drive will reduce use of paper and exchange of couriers. This internet based system is a one stop solution to government, citizens and university officials and opens up possibilities of location-independent and instantaneous transactions.
The system blocks data theft and use of fraudulent documents that are potential threats to national security, saves stakeholders a lot of time and effort spent in first getting their documents and then having them attested by third parties and helps university officials/authorities from managing huge repositories of papers. The system has been implemented as part of technology transfer from Myeasydocs.com, a company incubated by IIT Madras and supported by their department of management studies and department of computer science and engineering.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / by Jaideep Shenoy, TNN / November 12th, 2014
Winston Churchill came to Bangalore in October 1896 as a young army officer and left three years later to fight in the North West Frontier, now in Pakistan.
In his book, My Early Life he writes, “The climate of Bangalore, at more than 3,000 ft above sea level, is excellent. The sun even at midday is temperate and the mornings and evenings are fresh and cool.”
In the days Churchill made Bangalore his home, it was not a bustling city with bright lights. It was then a sleepy cantonment town with little to offer in the way of amusement to young soldiers. Churchill himself wrote that he found the city boring. He spent most of his time reading and collecting butterflies. He described the house alloted to him as ‘a magnificent pink and white stucco palace in the middle of a large and beautiful garden’. And he was well served by his staff, that included a gardener, a water-carrier, a dhobi, and a watchman.
Old timers in Bangalore will remember Victoria Hotel opposite Mayo Hall, which has now been demolished and replaced by a shopping mall. This was the place where Churchill used to read his morning paper. Churchill was also a member of the Bangalore Club.
After eight months in Bangalore, he wrote to his mother in a letter about his life in Bangalore, “Poked away in a garrison town…out of season and without the sea, with lots of routine work and … without society or good sport—half my friends on leave and the other half ill—my life here would be intolerable were it not for the consolations of literature…”
Chirs Wrigley in his book, Winston Churchill: A biographical companion, writes that it was in Bangalore that he met Pamela Plowden, daughter of an Indian civil servant based at Hyderabad. He was much enamoured by her at their first meeting.
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) has launched a new website to help the kin to apply online for transportation of mortal remains of the deceased emigrant in any of the ECR (Emigration Check Required) countries. The ECR countries are Malaysia, Jordan, UAE, Yemen, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Thailand.
If Indians in any of these above mentioned nations die, in such case their relatives and legal heirs can now apply at the MOIA website www.moia.gov.in with effect from August 12, 2014, an official press communique from the office of Mangalore City Police commissioner here on Tuesday states. The communique advised people to log on to this website in case of need and obtain necessary assistance from the ministry in their time of distress.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangalur / by Jaideep Shenoy, TNN / November 04th, 2014
