WCM (2008); WFM (2011); WIM (2012); one WGM norm (2012). World U8 Girls' Champion in 2006 and 2007 and eight time international gold medal winner as at July 2008.
Born and raised in Goa, Furtado, at 5 years and 3 months, played her first tournament at Moira - an U7 event - where she won a prize. She won a number of age events, including the U7 Girls category at the Asian Schools Chess Festival in December 2006 in Singapore, and the U8 Asian Youth Chess Championship in the U.A.E in August 2006. She won both the individual and team gold medal in the U8 World School Chess Championship in Halkidiki, Greece in May 2007. In October 2006, Furtado won the World Youth Champions (Girls) U8 in Batumi, Georgia. In November 2007, she successfully defended her world title in Antalya, Turkey, becoming the third Indian girl after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika to win more than one world age group title. In January 2008, Furtado was equal first in the U9 Girls category of the 3rd Asian Schools Chess Championship that was held in Kandy, Sri Lanka. In February 2008, she won her third consecutive (Goan) state U9 chess championship. In July 2008, she gained her WCM title by winning the gold medal in the Girls U9 division of the World Schools Championships in Singapore, and was runner up in the Girls U10 division of the Asian Youth Championship held in Tehran. At the 2009 World Youth Championship, she was runner up in the Girls U10 division behind Gunay Mammadzada and later won the Commonwealth Age Group Championships 2009 - Open U12 with 7.5/9. In 2010, she was =2nd in the RMK Residential Senior Secondary School 24th National U-11 Girls Chess Championship, and competed in the Commonwealth Chess Championship, scoring a very creditable 5.5/11. She also came second in the Asian Youth Chess Championship 2010 U12 (Girls) that was held in Beijing and =1st (2nd on count back behind the Ukraine's Iulija Osmak) with 9/11 in the 2010 World U12 Championships (Girls) that were held in Greece in October 2010. 2011 saw her first foray into World Junior Championships (Girls) (2011) at the age of 12, and she scored 6/13 boosting her ELO by 20 points. However, her 6/9 at the World Girls U12 Championship later that year was well below par for the top seed, and she shed 27 rating points as a result. She easily won the 2012 Asian Junior U20 Championship (Girls) held in Uzbekistan, with 7.5/9, a point clear of the field (winning her first WGM norm) and then came =3rd (4th on tiebreak) at the 2012 World Girls U14 Championship.
In non-age based tournament, she competed in the VII International Chess Festival of Figueira da Foz in October 2010, and while her overall result was quite modest, she managed draws against GM Luis Galego, IM Mauricio Vassallo Barroche and WIM Tatiana Kasparova. In 2011, she won the Asian U12 Girls Championship, scored 7.5/11 in the 37th (Indian) National Sub Junior Chess Championship for boys, and competed in the Commonwealth & South African Open 2011, scoring 7/11 including draws against GM Abhijit Kunte and WGM Ghate Swathi. In July 2011, she entered the 42st International Open Villa de Benasque in Huesca, Spain, scoring 5.5/9, a result that boosted her ELO to the top of her age group (U12) for Girls, and then in September, she came = 3rd with 8/11 in the National Junior Girls 2011 held in Goa. 2012 started poorly for Furtado, scoring 4.5/10 at the international open in Delhi in January and losing 30 rating points, however, she regained these rating points with a relatively strong showing at the Aeroflot Open B division where she scored a relatively strong 3/8, including her first win against a GM - Alexander Krapivin. Then in August 2012, she scored a strong 5.5/11 in the International Open in Barcelona, adding another 30 points to her rating. She fared reasonably well in the Indian Women's championship in October 2012, adding 10 points to her rating, and participated as favourite in the World Girls U14 Championship, but scored only 7/10. Her year ended badly when she scored only 5.5/11 at the Commonwealth Chess Championship 2012, shedding a massive 44 rating points, thereby conceding what would have been her spot in 2013 as the world's top rated U14 Girl to Kazakh WIM Zhansaya Abdumalik.
2013 saw a couple of strong performances to make up for the ground lost in late 2012. A relatively strong 4/9 at the 3rd HD Bank Cup (2013) and =4th at the Asian Junior U20 Championship 2013 for Girls with 6/9 combined to add over 50 points back into her rating card.
Ivana Furtado was entered into the Limca Book of World Records in 2007 for being the youngest Indian to win a world title in any sport (aged 7 years 226 days). She was voted the Sportswoman for the Year 2007 by the Goa Sports Journalist Association for the Geno Award, and The Person of the Year by "Goa Today" in 2007.
Wikipedia article: Ivana Maria Furtado Photo: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?num...
Kibitzing
