Young minds from various schools in six districts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had engaging time competing with their counterparts on the black and white boards at The Hindu In School Chess Competitions 2016 presented by Thyrocare at Siddartha Academy Auditorium in the city on Saturday.
Forty students out of total 207 participants bagged various prizes in the event for which the Bank of Baroda was the regional sponsor.
Competition was held in three categories, seniors, juniors and sub juniors. Students of schools from Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, West Godavari, Khammam and Nalgonda districts took part. There are also national and international level players among the participants. Siddartha Academy was the venue sponsor.
Andhra Pradesh Chess Association secretary D. Srihari, who addressed the students during the closing ceremony, stressed the need for making chess a habit from childhood.
“Chess is the only game that helps development of skills in children. That was the reason why the erstwhile Soviet Union had introduced it as mandatory subject in schools,” he said.
He thanked The Hindu for conducting such competitions across the States and said such platforms were needed to bring out talent.
All India Radio, Vijayawada Deputy Director M. Krishna Kumari said that children must take inspiration from iconic players like Koneru Humpy and put efforts to come out like them in the future.
“Chess gives exercise to the brain and improve thinking ability,” she added.
Bank of Baroda Assistant General Manager G. Anil Kumar also said that playing games and sports put children in the right path of thinking and make them well disciplined citizens.
Winners
Senior girls:
B. Lochana topped the category with 5 points followed by G. Hemalatha (4 pts), J. Ruchitha (4 pts), Krishnasri, Hyndhavi, M. Vyshnavi, K. Bhargavi, Ch. Niharika and P. Bhagyasri.
Senior boys:
Akshit Kumar (5pts), Madhu Preetam (4pts), Y. Sujan (4 pts), A. Pavan Krishna, G. Satyanarayana, Sumanth, Suvishal Xavier Joy, Abhinay and Chandra Mouli .K.
Junior girls:
K. Tanmai, N. Saatwika, Doyal Naidu, Ch. Sarvani, G. Priyanka, Sudeepthi Reddy, Sadbhavana, Chandan Rajeswari and L. Sree Sahithi.
Junior boys:
Abhinav Chandra, Varshith, Ranadheer, Sri Ram, G. Karthik, Rakesh Kumar, Abhiram Reddy, Eswar Prabhath and Sai Susresh.
Sub-junior girls: Ch. Kundana, V. Sri Lasya.
Sub-junior boys: T. Nischal, Barghav Aamudala
