A shift towards a 'chess playing nation!'
Report from New Delhi by Praful Zaveri
It is amazing how one person has changed the nation's perspective
towards chess! This is what World Chess Champion, Vishy Anand has done
for the the game in India! The country has taken to chess like never before,
and this was evident at the Asian Schools Chess Championship 2011, which was
hosted by the Delhi Chess Association at the picturesque Indira Gandhi Indoor
Stadium, New Delhi.
The playing venue – Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium
Of the 570 players who had aspired to become the Asian School Champion, 400+
players were from India – a shift towards a 'chess playing nation!'
Scroll the above picture for a panoramic view
This was also reflected in the result sheet, as the Indian participants won
a total of 33 (11 Gold, 12 Silver and 10 Bronze) of the 36 medals at stake!
Apart from open sections of Under-5 and Under-7, India made clean sweep in all
the remaining categories.
The credit for this show goes to the dynamic Secretary General of the All India
Chess Federation, Bharat Singh, whose efforts of hosting international
Chess events in Delhi has helped India in performing better and better.
Frantic preparation on the lawn before the start of a round
While there were excellent performance by all the winners in the six categories,
the most notable performance was displayed by four-and-a-half-year Sanskruti
Wankhede from India, who made a clean sweep of the Under-5 section (chess is
getting younger and younger!) with a score of 7.0/7!
Sanskruti Wankhede – the next wonder-girl from India?
With a rival before the start of a game
Winning such an event had not sunk to this girl, who must be wondering why
the hordes of photographers are snapping her pictures. In fact, she was
disappointed that she only got a small medal, whereas she was expecting a big
trophy!
Medal Winners
|
Under 5 Girls |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Wankhade Sanskruti |
IND |
7 |
| 2 |
Darsana M S |
IND |
7 |
| 3 |
Prathivya Gupta |
IND |
6 |
|
|
Under 5 Boys |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Vallabh Kavi |
IND |
7 |
| 2 |
Suyash Pai |
IND |
7 |
| 3 |
Solomko Artur |
KGZ |
7 |
|
|
Under 7 Girls |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Arushi Kotwal |
IND |
8 |
| 2 |
Niranjana Aishwarya |
IND |
7 |
| 3 |
Bristy Mukherjee |
IND |
7 |
|
|
Under 7 Boys |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Abdusattorov Nodirbek |
UZB |
8 |
| 2 |
Kushagra Mohan |
IND |
7½ |
| 3 |
Lye Lik Zang |
MAS |
7 |
|
|
Under 9 Girls |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Vantika Agrawal |
IND |
8 |
| 2 |
Ghosh Samriddhaa |
IND |
7½ |
| 3 |
Adyasa Mahapatra |
IND |
6½ |
|
|
Under 9 Boys |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Ram Aravind L N |
IND |
8 |
| 2 |
Iniyan P |
IND |
8 |
| 3 |
Rahul Srivatshav P |
IND |
7 |
|
|
Under 11 Girls |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Tarini Goyal |
IND |
7 |
| 2 |
Khushi Dharewa |
IND |
7 |
| 3 |
Harshita Guddanti |
IND |
6½ |
|
|
Under 11 Boys |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Abhishek A |
IND |
7½ |
| 2 |
Barath Kalyan M |
IND |
7 |
| 3 |
Aradhya Garg |
IND |
7 |
|
|
Under 13 Girls |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Smaraki Mohanty |
IND |
7 |
| 2 |
Shweta Priyadarshini |
IND |
7 |
| 3 |
Shiny Das |
IND |
6½ |
|
|
Under 13 Boys |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Ghosh Diptayan |
IND |
8½ |
| 2 |
Aravindh Chithambaram |
IND |
7½ |
| 3 |
Sidhant Mohapatra |
IND |
6½ |
|
|
Under 15 Girls |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Madhurima Shekhar |
IND |
8 |
| 2 |
Nandhidhaa Pv |
IND |
7½ |
| 3 |
Aarudhra Ganesh |
IND |
5½ |
|
|
Under 15 Boys |
|
|
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Girish A Koushik |
IND |
7½ |
| 2 |
Gandhi Anish |
IND |
7 |
| 3 |
Satkar Chirag |
IND |
6½ |
|
A Krgyz player with the traditional hat
Secretary General of the All India Chess Federation, Bharat Singh,
and FIDE General Secretary & Delegate Hisham Al-Taher look on
Here are some unidentified players – our readers will surely supply
the names?!
The chief guest for closing ceremony was Mr. Desh Deepak Verma IAS, Director
General Sports Authority of India and Mr. Hisham Al-Taher, General Secretary
Asian Chess Federation. The other dignitaries who give away the prizes
were Mr. Luxman Wijesuriya, Vice President Sri Lankan Chess Federation
and Shri. Husan H Turdialiev, Co-Chairman of Chess Federation of Uzbekistan.
At Raj
Ghat, where the 'Father of the Nation' Gandhiji rests
Copyright
Zaveri/ChessBase
