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BHAURAO AS COACH

Since 1942, Bhautao took active part in Nutan Buddhibal Mandal. He took Mandal as a Medium to canvass Buddhibal. Under the guidance of P. L. Khadilkar he formed Southern Maratha Country Chess Association for Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Ratnangiri districts. Bhaurao visited these districts in person, he met the players. To make Buddhibal popular among the people he followed the methods Blind-fold games and simultaneous games.
He also canvassed Buddhibal in Kolhapur, Karad, Satara, Hubali, Kirloskarwadi, Belgaum, Solapur, Ratanagiri at Walchand Collage, Wilingdon Collage of Sangli, Shivaji Vidyapith, Kolhapur. There he faced many players at a time and also followed Blind-fold games. A lot of people used thrush to the spot to witness these matches. He also encouraged the members of Mandal to form such clubs in Satara, Karad, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, and Solapur. The members were also encouraged to arrange the match on district level. He also started Zonal selection competitions. The selected players from those competitions continue to participate in selection competition of Maharashtra. These competitions were taken as Sub-Junior, Junior and women. This made many active members. They established the chess clubs in Ichalkaranji, Jaysingpur, Kasbe-Digraj, Miraj, Karnal, Nandare, Madhavnagar, Islampur, Kirloskarwadi, Hupari, Gadhingalj, Nipani, Chikodi, Belgaum, Hubli, Karad, Phaltan, Wai, Patan and Sawantwadi. In South Maharashtra the competitions were held in cities and even in villages. Bhau took great labor to solve the problems and difficulties of the members of clubs and he provided them with the necessary equipments for the competition.
He had a lion's share in forming Maharashtra Chess Association. This association was formed in 1963. In the beginning two active Divisions like Sangli and Mumbai, Gradually Pune and Nagpur zones became active. Nutan Buddhibal Mandal held a first state selection and championship competition at Sangli in 1968 under the leadership of Bhau. It proved successful and also stimulated other associations.
During 1979-81, 1985-87 Bhau worked as 'Mahasachiv' of association. In Marathwada Division the activity was rather weak. To strengthen the activity Bhaurao visited Latur, Aurangabad. In those days the five types of competitions like Sub-Junior, Junior, Women, and State Championship were distributed to zonal institutions. Bhau used to be present at every competition. He also met the parents and young players to encourage them. Afterwards the network of chess spread all over in cities and in villages. The parents started to search the trainers.
Since 1900 the foreign methods were adopted and there were very few players. Every player used to play by his previous experience. Nobody studied the game scientifically. After 1909-10 the books and magazines were made available. Everybody studied the methods on his own. But never taught it. Shri. Vinayakrao khadilkar first taught Bhaurao and Shivram Natu regularly in 1941-42.
As the number of chess playing increased there was a want of training. In big cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta, Madras the training was available. In Sangli itself since 1968 Nutan Buddhibal Mandal started arranging competitions. From the young ones up to grown-ups all participated. In 1971-72 Shri Vasantrao Sathe requested Bhaurao to play with his daughter as a coach of the game. Bhaurao and Vasantrao had friendly relations from early childhood. Bhau agreed and the practice went on. Bhau trained Bhagyashri for 10 years continuously. From that training he thought to teach others players. Since 1976, Mandal held the competitions for women, children and during those competitions Bhau started training women and children at 9 to 10 pm. Since 1976-77 Shivaji Vidhaypeth appointed Bhau to train its team. He did it for 5-6 years. Bhau every Saturday and Sunday trained 15 players at Dinkarpant Kelkar's house in gaon bhag, in the year 1979-80. Vidiraj Jahagirdar, Atul Killedar Rajendra Shidore were trained by Bhaurao at his own house. He also trained the players like Chidambar Kotibhaskar, Shyam Ponkshe and Ekanath Lele. At Kasbe-Digraj on every Sunday Bhau trained 20-25 platters in the morning.
In 1985-86 Bhau trained 20-25 children in his own house. The parents insist Bhaurao to train their children in these days. Bhau is willingly doing this. In 1989 Bhau trained\ Pallavi Shah in Kolhapur on Sundays and Saturdays.

	" I wish the function all success that it deserves. Also I like to wish you all the success in your continuous yeoman service to the promotion of chess. "
	- Anand