A 13-year-old schoolgirl, who moved to Kilkenny from the Indian city of Bangalore five years ago, has been chosen to represent Ireland at the Chess Olympics next week.
Poornima Jayadev Menon is one of the four-member national women's team and believed to be the youngest person ever to represent Ireland at senior level. She has already represented the country at youth level in European and World Chess Championships.
About 150 countries will take part in the 37th Chess Olympiad, to be held in the Italian city of Turin, which begins next Saturday and runs until June 4th. A six-man Irish team will also participate.
Poornima will be accompanied by her father, Jayadev Vallath, an IT specialist who was recruited by the VHI in India and moved to work for the healthcare company in Kilkenny in 2001. Her mother, Jaya Tharayil, who trained as a lawyer in Kerala, is currently studying in Dublin to gain the qualifications to practise as a solicitor in Ireland. Mr Vallath said his family likes Kilkenny which, though "quieter than Bangalore", is "very friendly and has very good schools". They have just bought a new house in the city and plan to stay in Ireland long-term.
Poornima is a second-year student at the 600-pupil all-girl Kilkenny Presentation Secondary School in Loughboy where principal Cathal Cullen described her as "an excellent pupil - gentle, dignified and modest".
Her favourite subjects are maths, art and Irish, which she says she speaks "pretty well" along with fluent English and her mother tongue, Malayalam. She is coached by Darko Polimac, a Croatian, who set up a chess school in Kilkenny three years ago and now teaches the game at 24 schools throughout the county to over 500 students. They include Poornima's younger bother Aravind (11), who is also emerging as a serious chess player and is the current All-Ireland under-12 champion.
Chess fans can follow Ireland's progress at the Olympics on the official tournament website: www.chessolympiad-torino2006.org/eng
