As the battle lines were drawn, enthusiastic participants keep their eyes wide open for longer moments, waiting to seize the right opportunity to make the tactical move and outperform the opponent.
The Hindu in School Chess Competition 2017 provided an avenue to 182 boys and 55 girls who exhibited their skills in one of their favourite sports, following the Swiss league format and adhering to the FIDE rapid rules in under 9, under 11, under 13 and under 15 years categories.
Managing their time efficiently, budding chess players scored points, making calculated moves. “At times, even the best strategies would fail and spontaneity comes into play and that’s when we have to be more alert because one wrong move is enough to bring down your confidence level,” said B.V.S. Akhil, a Class VIII student of Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1, Nausenabaugh.
However, his strategies worked well for the current edition of the tournament as he secured top spot in U-13 category.
To inspire others
Defining the moment as one of the most remarkable ones, B. Saketh, a Class X student of Zilla Parishad High School, Tallapalem, said that his target was to inspire his classmates to get involved in the game. “Chess enhanced my analytical skills and thinking abilities. Compared to my peers, I have more patience as I have been practising chess over the last six years,” said Saketh, who grabbed the first position in U-15 category, featured under the aegis of AP Chess Association. After bagging the first prize in U-13, D. Syamala Joyce said that most girls do not consider sports seriously.
“I wanted to break this trend and to start with, I will start from my school as every sport has its own relevance and girls need to be encouraged to take up a sport,” said the Class VIII student of Little Angels School, MVP Colony. Divisional Regional Manager of Waltair Division of ECoR Mukul Saran Mathur, who gave away prizes to the winners of the tournament, expressed his happiness over good number of girls taking part in the competition.
Chief arbiter and secretary of Visakha District Chess Association Ch. Ramesh stated that playing chess helps improve the intelligence quotient of children and events like these give the players a platform to develop their competitive spirit.
The presenting sponsor of the tournament was Thyrocare, knowledge partner was Arrow Publications.
