Sports are competitive due to the variance in students’ talents and skills. Indoor games, especially those played solo, require both patience and quickness in decision-making to continue the tempo till the end. Chess, the traditional game of Bharat, involves irrevocable decisions mainly with 6 pieces: pawns, king, queen, bishop, rooks and knight; since the game represents a metaphorical traditional war between two mighty forces, it is worth playing and practising to improve reasoning and cognitive skills.
At Atmiya Vidya Mandir, students are given ample opportunities to improve students’ skills and calibre in all indoor games, especially Chess. Recently, AVM students participated in the District-level Chess Tournament 2023. This tournament was hosted by Shree M. J. Bhatt Sarvajanik Vidhyalay, Mota (Dist. Surat) on the 8th of September 2023. The teams of two players from Under-14, Under-17 and Under-19 age groups were coached and trained to participate in this tournament.
Thus, six chosen chess players left for the competition from the AVM campus. They reached the tournament venue with their sports teachers. There were teams of 30 schools participating in the Under-14 and Under-17 District level Chess Competition; on the other hand, 24 schools participated in the Under-19 group. Each school was allowed to select only 2 students per group for this competition. The tournament began with a welcome speech by the Principal of the host school addressing all the participants. The management committee of the event guided the contestants to their respective places of competition. Names were called out to inform the players about the details of their contests. The venue of the contest was well-organised to maintain the ambience of playing it.
The Under-14 group had two of AVM’s contestants – Aanand N Kasadwala [5B] and Hermes H Gajera [5B]. The tournament adopted the knockout system, i.e., upon losing a match one loses the tournament. Unfortunately, both of these AVM players of this category lost in the first round itself.
Dhyan J Bhatt [7A] and Arham V Modi [8B] were nominated by our school to represent AVM at the tournament in the Under-17 group. Down with his luck, Arhambhai lost in the very first qualifying round. But the tactics of Dhyanbhai led him to the 6th rank in the tournament. He has been nominated as a stand-by player for the state-level competition.
Veer R Modi [11 Com] and Ashish A Kursawe [11 Sci] joined the tournament for the Under-19 category. Ashishbhai showed fabulous calibre and was permitted to play the next match. With luck being unfavourable, Ashishbhai lost the next game. But Veer R Modi was consistently able to retain his position by securing 3rd position in the tournament, thus paving his way for the state-level competition. In this manner, the district level chess tournament 2023-24 proved AVM players’ proficiency and showed their areas of improvement, in the field of Chess.
Veer Modi (Grade 11)
