Eleven-year-old R. Bavani from Indira Nagar tribal settlement started early in the morning from the reserve forest – about five km from Emerald – in Udhagamandalam to take part in The Hindu In School Chess Competition 2016 at PSG Medical College auditorium in Coimbatore.
She was among 186 students from Coimbatore, Tirupur and The Nilgiris who participated in the two-day tournament here that will be conducted in as many as seven rounds in the Swiss System.
The tourney was conducted in two categories – junior (classes 5 to 8) and senior (classes 9 to 12). There were 122 participants in the junior category and 64 in the senior category.
FIDE Arbiter A. Dhakshinamoorthy said that a total of four rounds would be conducted on Saturday and three on Sunday. “All the participants will get an opportunity to play all the seven rounds. Pairing for every round is done based in such a way to match the contestants with equal number of points,” the Arbiter said.
Bavani, a 7{+t}{+h}standard student from the Government Middle School at Anna Nagar, Emerald, learnt chess from her English master Sathish two years ago. Bavani’s parents collect dried eucalyptus leaves and send it to an oil mill to extract oil. It is the first tournament of this level for this girl.
Thanks to timely information from her distant relative K. Jayaprakash (32), a cable television operator, who brought her all the way to Coimbatore. “I was interested in sports but did not have the opportunity to excel,” he said. The two will be here for both days of the tournament.
Sixth standard student D. Thushar Varma (11) of Coimbatore wants to represent India at the international arena. His parents R.M. Dileep Kumar, manager in a nationalised bank, and Rakhee Varma had brought him to the tourney amidst their busy packing schedule as Mr. Dileep has got transferred.
Fifth standard student S. Raghul of Saibaba Colony has played more than 50 chess tournaments. “I play chess three hours a day online with people across age groups from various countries. I am preparing for FIDE rating,” the boy said.
As many as 28 students of Sri Sai Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Tirupur, participated in the tournament. One of the teachers, who accompanied the students, S. Malathi, said that the parents of most them are knitwear workers and they could not accompany their children to the tournament. “The school made arrangements for the registration and participation,” she added.
The tournament was not a cake walk for the contestants. M. Saravna Kumar, a city based businessman who had brought his son, said that at least 30 students in the junior category were regular players at tournaments in the district and State level.
Organised by The Hindu , the tournament is presented by Thyrocare. PSG Medical College was the venue partner for the event. It was organised to commemorate the International Chess Day (July 20). The tournament is organised in 25 cities across India.
