Trainers Team
Gargi Sane
Ms. Gargi is an International chess player, National Instructor from India as well as Maharashtra’s state arbiter. She likes to be with kids to share her knowledge in chess in the form of her own experiences. She is committed to bringing a good and positive level of thinking through her guidance to all students. She has completed her graduation in commerce and also a diploma in photography from a reputed Institute in Pune.
Ms. Gargi has decided to gather much experience in the organization as she is the core member of Victorious Chess Academy.
Sameer Ghela
Mr. Sameer is an International rated player of chess and has an experience of playing chess at a competitive level for more than ten years. He is an Opening expert and likes to share his knowledge by teaching budding champions of all levels. He has done graduation in commerce and he is currently working as an Process Manager at Victorious chess academy.
Mr. Sameer is one of the core members of Victorious Chess Academy.
Satyam Warude
Mr. Satyam has completed his bachelor’s degree and as well as his diploma in animation. He is associated with VCA for more than 5 years now.
He is the winner of the tournaments held at District, state and national levels. One of the greatest achievements was the Selection for All India University Chess Tournament.
He claims that students at VCA are very wise, sharp minded and enthusiasts at the same time.
Shyam Athate
Shyam Sir has done his Masters of engineering in CSIT. Since his childhood he has a great passion towards Chess. He started as an amateur chess player but later he groomed his chess skills, and in college days he started learning Chess professionally.
Shyam Sir has a huge experience of playing Chess at a competitive level, and has won prizes in several tournaments. Shyam Sir has become very popular among the beginners kids and is always willing to share his knowledge to the students as much as possible.
Rushikesh Pande
Mr. Rushikesh has done Computer Engineering from Pune University. He is an experienced player of chess. He loves children and behaves very patiently with them. His teaching skills are very interesting and innovative. He is a good observant as well as a good teacher.
He has played many tournaments and he used to share his experience with kids in a class after the tournaments. Mr. Rushikesh is working as a senior trainer in Victorious Chess Academy.
Arjun Dave
Mr. Arjun Dave started playing chess in 2015. He played many open as well as rated tournaments. Mr. Arjun completed Bachelors in Applied Psychology from Sardar Patel University Gujarat. Currently he is pursuing MA in Psychology from Savitribai Phule University.
He is having expertise in chess tactics. He connects his psychological studies with Chess to understand and observe students and to improve their knowledge in chess. Mr. Arjun is a beginners trainer in Victorious Chess Academy.
Sangharsh Karpe
Mr. Sangharsh is pursuing BA LLB and company secretory course. He is an international rated player of chess.
He started his chess journey with VCA as a player and later joined the team as a trainer to contribute to the organization’s mission of spreading chess. Sangharsh loves training students who are serious about the improvement in chess.
Sangharsh is very hardworking and one of the finest trainers of Victorious Chess Academy.
Diksha Chalak
Mrs. Diksha Chalak is an internationally rated player of chess. She started playing chess at the age of 12. She has played many tournaments and also represented her school at national level. She is Company Secretary (CS) by profession. Chess is her passion and she wants to spread this beautiful game among youngsters.
Diksha wants to continue to follow her passion of teaching and playing chess under the roof of Victorious Chess Academy.
Yash Watarkar
Mr. Yash has a stellar academic background. Currently he is pursuing BTech in Computer Science from VIIT, Pune. He has been a chess enthusiast since the age of 9 and believes that the journey from knowing the basics of chess to getting a higher FIDE international rating has been zestful!
Mr. Yash’s achievements speak to his incredible talent in Chess.
He has won Inter-school Individual Chess Championship in 2016 and many more tournaments at district, divisional and state level.
Being a coach at VCA, he believes he can propagate the game of chess to all students.
Ayan Karmokar
Mr. Ayan is a Game Designer by profession. He started paying Chess at the age of 12 years. He used to play actively in ICCF (Indian Correspondence Chess Federation) where players would send their moves on Postcards.
He has played many open as well as corporate tournaments for many years.
In 2015, he met Kapil Sir and started playing Chess religiously. Mr. Ayan sportively says that he has taken an inspiration from Kapil Sir to spread the beautiful game of Chess!
His job in Game Designing requires a lot of creativity, analytical and innovative thinking so he wants to help others to realize the influence of Chess on critical thinking and Personality Development.
Akshaya B
Ms. Akshaya B is from Tamil Nadu and is in 10th standard. She started playing chess from 12 years of age and from then she started winning district tournaments.
She has also participated in state and national level tournaments She says that students at VCA are very intelligent and teaching students is itself a learning experience for her.
She also says it was possible for her because of the guidance and teachings of Kapil Sir and Gargi ma’am.
Dhruv Joshi
Mr. Dhruv is pursuing Electronics and Telecommunications engineering from COEP, Pune. He has been playing chess from last 12 years now. He has won many competitions under many age groups till now.
He affirmatively says that students at VCA are intuitive and are a bunch of very good students.
It is a good learning experience for him while teaching these students.
Pranav Jagtap
Mr. Pranav is BE ENTC Engineer by profession and invests his free time in playing and teaching chess. From the 5 years of age, he gained a lot of interest in chess and since then he is developing his skills in this field.
He says, it is a great experience to teach kids at VCA.
The environment is very joyful and he is also learning a lot from other trainers and students as well.
Rajas Nishandar
Mr. Rajas is currently doing is bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. He is playing chess rigorously from 7-8 years.
He has made some remarkable progress in chess by winning district and inter-college tournaments.
He believes that students at VCA are very intelligent and cooperative at the same time. Therefore, he enjoys teaching through interactive sessions.
Ansar M Pachwadkar
Mr. Ansar is currently working in MSC Software Ltd as a Product Architect. He has been playing chess over 35 years now.
He says, Kapil Sir has been his mentor for years and he is the reason behind witnessing the journey of being a chess student to chess trainer.
Mr. Ansar is one of the passionate and zealous trainers we have at VCA.
Parth Ostwal
Mr. Parth has completed his 12th standard and is preparing for UPSC exams. He has been learning chess for a couple of years now.
He has been associated with VCA for more than a year now. He claims that all the members are so zealous and ecstatic about their work that it gave him an immense joy to be a part of VCA as a trainer. VCA has given him a platform to devote himself to chess and to fulfill his wish of spreading the art of chess.
Avinash Sukhwani
Mr. Avinash is a senior engineer in the design department by profession and a chess coach in his leisure time. He has been associated with chess since his school and started participating at zonal, state, national and international levels from his college days.
He says, at VCA, the online system and process of teaching chess is very likable. The curriculum and syllabus designed is suitable for any age group. All the trainers and the whole team of VCA are very helpful.
Ajay Pancharia
Mr. Ajay is international rated chess player associated with chess for more than 15 years. He is physics professor by profession. He has won Gold medal for ‘All India inter University games’ for Amravti & Pune University. He say the staff at VCA is wonderful and cooperative.
People working for VCA are always motivated and keep others motivated as well. The one thing he likes the most about VCA is proper organised format to teach students. The environment is created in such a way that there is freedom of expression to trainers and students as well. He also claims that VCA never compromises on students’ progress.
Koneru Charan Kumar
Mr. Charan is assistant superintendent in chemical industry and AICF chess trainer as well! Being a chemical engineer, he always look at chess as a part time hobby. But, after joining VCA, that part time has been very fruitful to him, he says.
He always states that students here at VCA are very enthusiastic, interactive and dedicated for the game of chess.
Yash Ankaikar
Mr. Yash Ankaikar has completed his BE Mechanical Engineer degree. He is a FIDE rated Chess Player with a 1050 rating.
He has participated in Intra College Tournament, with Regional Sports meet (Indore), National sports Meet (Chennai) and SPPU intercollegiate Tournament.
He has achieved winner trophy at Regional Sports meet with many inter college and VCA Tournaments.
Yash Ankaikar started his journey as a VCA student and was learning under the guidance of Kapil Sir, Gargi Mam and Sameer Sir. Currently associated with VCA as a Chess Coach.
As a Chess Player he shares chess is not just a game, but also a personality development tool as it helps to develop and enhance one’s decision-making ability, patience, time management, problem solving and many more.
As a result of these qualities, chess players always have the upper hand in both professional and non-professional fields.
Atharva Madkar
Mr. Atharva Madkar has done education and completed BTech in Engineering Physics from IIT Guhati. He is a FIDE rated Chess Played with a
1627 rating.
He participated and won 4 th rank in Pune district Open Chess Tournament 2022 and got selected for Maharashtra Open 2022.
He has represented Maharashtra in various National chess tournaments like U-9, U-11, U-13, U-15 nationals. Also, national Rapid and Blitz chess tournament.
As a chess player, he thinks: It is a style to take the opponent and player into unknown territory. A game of chess, like life, is not an examination of
knowledge; it is a battle of nerves.
Onkar Pasalkar
Mr. Onkar Pasalkar has completed his Hotel Management degree and is a FIDE-rated Chess Player with a 1256 Rating.
He has participated in Pune and Mumbai Mayor cup tournament.
Onkar Pasalkar was selected 4 times for inter University Chess Tournament.
He believes that as he started playing chess, he met different people and got knowledge how to improve his game.