The army of cavalry is approaching from the front, our infantry has been knocked out by the savage trumpeting and thuds of the enormous elephants. They have broken through the shield and entered the king’s area, jeopardising his safety. But wait, is it a real battle?

The modern-day game of chess could be traced back to the real-life battles that were fought in the past centuries. Chess is one of the most intellectually demanding game fought between two brains, involving countless strategies and thinking skills. Just imagine how amazing it would be to fight the same realistic battle in just a small area of 8*8 black and white squares!

And recently, the young chess brains of AVM proved their feat in the HUB OF LEARNING (HOL-GT0075) CHESS COMPETITION 2019-20 held at R P Bhavani Vidya Mandir school. Our school teams participated in all the three categories (under-14, 17 and 19) under the able guidance of our school chess coach Hemant Sir. The students only had 3 days for practice at the time of announcement of the competition, but that didn’t come in their way of making every second count in their preparation. They exercised their brains to the last of their neurons to master skills like ping, double attack, fork, Sicilian defence, etc.

17th November 2019 was the date of the competition and along with our school, there were five other schools who had participated in this knockout tournament – R P Bhavani Vidya Mandir, Genius Education Academy, Podar International School, L P Savani School (Pal) and Shree Radhagovind Vidya Mandir. All the players were brimming with immense zeal, unending enthusiasm and a burning desire to win the competition. Moreover, the prizes of medals and trophy consolidated further their drive and proliferated their gusto for victory.

In the under-14 category, Ashraybhai of 7th std and Vijaybhai of 6th std participated from our school. Though short, they both set out on an encounter by crushing the opponent’s army with their amazing and lethal tactics. With great determination and conviction, Vijaybhai won the Bronze medal, while Ashraybhai who won the Silver medal.

In the under-17 category, Mananbhai and Nirmanbhai, both of 10th Std, were chosen to represent our school. With brutal checkmates and enchanting moves, both of them reached the semi-finals. Although Nirmanbhai couldn’t make it to the finals, nevertheless, he won the Bronze medal. And Mananbhai made our school proud by finishing at the top and bagging the Gold medal.

Furthermore, Yashbhai and Gurmanjotbhai of 9th std represented our school in the under-19 category. Although they were underage, they were unfazed and weren’t afraid at all of the prospect of facing players who were probably three to five years older than them. They fought fiercely with all their might and managed to give an extremely tough completion to their opponents, although they couldn’t manage to win.

Overall, the tournament was quite a success for our school. We won 2 Bronze medals, 1 Silver medal and 1 Gold medal, constituting a total of 27 points. It was a moment of great pride for AVM as we were declared the overall winners of the tournament. While some achieved laurels, others got the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and get better.

We can surely say that under the guidance of Hemant Sir, the hard work of these young prodigies paid off and bore sweet fruits!

Reported by: Manan Patel & Nirman Jaiswal (Class 10)