Chess Olympiad 2024: Record entries for MSSA chess tournament

A file picture of one of the previous editions of MSSA’s inter-school chess tournament at the Dharavi Sports Complex

The historic Chess Olympiad victories by India's men's and women's teams in Budapest last month seems to have done its bit to popularise the board game, inspiring more of Mumbai's youngsters to take to it.

The Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) that will be hosting its 43rd inter-school chess tournament on October 17 at St Sebastian High School (Chembur) has witnessed a surge in entries this year. MSSA have received a whopping 3,037 entries this year from 187 schools for the one-day tournament for children from the age of five to 15 years. This is a huge jump from the 2,847 entries received last year from 167 schools.

MSSA President Fr Jude Rodrigues

MSSA's chess secretary Sebastian Rodrigues is convinced that this is an after-effect of India's double gold medal-winning show at the Chess Olympiad. "In the last two years, chess has become very popular among kids. Also, India's recent success in Hungary has added to this popularity, leading to a record number of entries this time. It won't be long before Mumbai produces a Viswanathan Anand or a D Gukesh," Rodrigues told mid-day on Monday.

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MSSA President Fr Jude Rodrigues added that there would be more prizes awarded too. "This time we will not only be awarding certificates to just the winners. We will be awarding certificates to the top five players as we want to encourage and reward children for their effort," said Fr Jude.