MSSA conducts inter-school online chess to beat COVID hurdles

U-16 champ Vaarin Gada during MSSA's online chess tourney

Given that almost all sporting activity across the city continues to be on hold due to the Coronavirus-forced lockdown, the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) decided to conduct its inter-school chess tournament online recently. And the event was a huge success, with almost 900 students participating in it.

"With the District Sports Office [DSO] not scheduling any sporting competitions till December, the MSSA executive committee, at its meeting earlier this month, decided to conduct the chess tournament online from November 20 to 22. And we are proud to announce that there were 867 participants across five age groups, from U-12 to U-16," MSSA treasurer Sebastian Fernandes told
mid-day on Monday.

For the kids, the online tournament was a unique experience, tough for some, but enjoyable nevertheless.

"Though I practise online regularly, playing an inter-school tournament was a bit difficult because we cannot see our opponent in front of us. I'm so used to playing on the board that it took me some time to adapt to this version. Previously, in inter-school chess events, my best finish has been 10th place, so winning the title this year, in my final year at school, is very special," said Chatrabhuj Narsee Memorial's (Vile Parle) Class X student, Vaarin Gada, 15, who won the boys U-16 title.
It was a maiden title for U-16 girls champion Aashrita Narayan too. "This is my first MSSA chess title and I'm elated. Usually, I take my time before making my moves but in this online version, I had to play a bit faster, so it was not easy," said Aashtrita, also a student of Chatrabhuj Narsee Memorial.

U-12 champ Trisha Jagtap, 10, of The Green Acres Academy (Chembur), felt that the introduction of online schooling helped in a big way. "Throughout this lockdown, I have got so used to online classes, that playing online chess felt similar," said Trisha.

In the boys U-14 category, Gaurang Bagwe of SJ Poddar Academy (Malad) and Raahil Mullick of Dhirubhai Ambani International School (BKC) were adjudged joint winners. "In online chess, you cannot gauge your opponent's reaction as you cannot see his body language, so that makes things difficult. Besides, there is always the risk of network fluctuation or failure which could jeopardise your chances of a win," said Gaurang.

Meanwhile, MSSA are keen to take more sports competitions online. "Given this tournament's success, we are planning to conduct our inter-school carrom tournament online too, in January," said Fernandes.

Final results:

B-U-16: 1. Vaarin Gada, 2. Ritvik Krishnan, 3.Ruhaan Mahindru

G-U-16: 1. Aashrita Narayan, 2. Vrisha Shah, 3. Viha Shah

B-U-14: 1. Gaurang Bagwe and Raahil Mullick (Joint winners), 2. Dev Shah, 3. Varun Vasudeva

G-U-14: 1. Harshita Maheshwari, 2. Rujula Desai, 3. Rashi Shetty

B-U-12: 1. Kavish Sampat, 2. Rounaiv Rana, 3. Jaisal Shah

G-U-12: 1. Trisha Jagtap, 2. Suhaani Lohia, 3. Harshita Sharma

B-U-10: 1. Kairav Thakkar, 2. Aaditya Anand, 3. Siddhant Bharti

G-U-10: 1. Mysha Perwez, 2. Prisha Kesarwani, 3.Aaratrika Arunava Chowdhury

B-U-8: 1. Vedaant Gogri, 2. Divit Bhowmick, 3. Reyaansh Venkat

G-U-8: 1. Anvita Utture, 2. Pavitra Shah, 3. Denelle Sharon Dsouza

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