Odisha School Chess Championship: Koustuv Das of St. Xavier’s High School, Kedargouri, won the top prize scoring 8.5 points out of a possible 9 at the two-day All Odisha School Chess Championship which concluded at the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) here on Saturday.
Das won eight of the nine matches while drawing one to emerge the top player in the tournament and won a purse of Rs. 10,000. Tanmay Talin Behera of Mother’s Public School, Bhubaneswar, finished second with 8 points.
The championship, organised by All Odisha Chess Association (AOCA) in association with SOA, offered prize money of Rs. one lakh. More than 200 Children in the age group of five to 15 from across the state participated in the tournament.
Jyotshnav Talukdar (Kendriya Vidyalaya, No. 3, Bhubaneswar), Lalit Ranjan Sahu (Stewart School, Cuttack), Ayushman Mohanty (Kendriya Vidyalaya, No. 1, Puri), Pratyush Nayak (Stewart School, Cuttack), Debarpit Mishra (Kendriya Vidyalaya, No. 1, Bhubaneswar), Santanu Baral (Prashanti International School, Puri), Mohapatra Ayush Aryan (Kendriya Vidyalaya, Cuttack) and Santanu Kumar Dash (Ravindra Vidya Niketan, Keonjhar) also won cash prizes and were presented with trophies.
Mr. Dayal Gangwar, Additional Director General of Police, Railway and Coastal Security, Odisha, Prof. (Dr.) Ashok Mahapatra, former Vice-Chancellor of SOA and Mr. Madhusudan Padhi, former bureaucrat attended the valedictory ceremony of the tournament.
Mr.Gangwar thanked the organizers for holding the tournament as it would help the young and beautiful minds to emerge as future international masters and grand masters. There was no better game than chess to activate young minds, he said.
Mr. Padhi said extremely good chess players had emerged from Odisha in the past and expressed the hope that some of the participants in the tournament would shine in the future.
Prof. (Dr.) Mahapatra said parents should realize the importance of sports and extra-curricular activities for their children. Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare) of SOA, welcomed the guests.
Mr. D.P. Khare, Principal, K.T. Global School, Bhubaneswar, Mr. Suresh Chandra Sahoo, International Arbiter, AOCA, Mr. Debabrata Bhatta, Secretary of AOCA, Mr. Shankar Mishra, Treasurer, AOCA and Ms. Sunita Burma, Sports Officer of SOA, were present.
