Guwahati: The 2nd edition of the “Late Kailash Nath Sarma Memorial All India Open Online Inter-School Children Chess Championship 2020” was inaugurated on 4th September 2020 by Mrs. Mrinalini Devi, Wife of Late Kailash Nath Sarma in the online presence of Mrs. Anubha Goyal, Principal Royal Global School, International Master Atanu Lahiri from West Bengal, Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan from Tamilnadu and host of officials and players from across the country.
At least 300 school students from 15 states of the country registered for this 3-day chess event conducted by Assam first and only International Arbiter Biswajit Bharadwaj and VL Anandh Babu of Tamilnadu. The tournament was played and broadcasted live worldwide on the International chess platform chess.com.
International Master Atanu Lahiri emphasized the universality of the game of chess and said that chess is the only mainstream sport that can be played online without compromising on the skills level or quality of the game.
Mrs. Anubha Goyal, Principal of Royal Global School greeted the children participating in the event and expressed her happiness to see such a large number of students participating in this event. She laid emphasis on the importance of learning and playing chess at the school level and highlighted the academic benefits of chess.
The closing ceremony was held through an online video conference in which Sri Dharmakanta Mili, Director of Sports and Youth Welfare, Government of Assam attended as the chief guest while renowned Chess Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan of Tamilnadu was the guest of honor.
Mrs. Bijaya Sarma, Daughter in law of Late Kailash Nath Sarma who was also present in the function expressed her gratitude to all the participants and officials for making this event a grand success and congratulated all the winners of the event.
Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan spoke about his long relationship with Assam Chess Club since the year 2015 when he was an International Master and won the 2nd RGS International Open Rating Chess Tournament 2015 and how he has been associated with Assam Chess Club since then.
Grandmaster Srinath also congratulated all the participants as well as the winners of the event and appreciated the efforts of Snehabandhan and Assam Chess Club to promote the game of chess in the region and provide a platform for the upcoming players of the country even in this pandemic situation.
The top five position holders in each of the categories of this tournament received scholarship worth two lakhs twenty-five thousands in the form of online chess coaching by the renowned trainer which include Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan, International Master Atanu Lahiri, Fide Trainer Biswajit Bharadwaj, and Nandan Buragohain.
The tournament was organized by Nonprofit organization Snehabandhan and Assam Chess Club, an unit of Akshayam.
PRIZE WINNERS
| CLASS 9 TO 12 | ||
| POSITION | NAME | SCHOOL |
| 1ST POSITION | Dhrupad Kashyap | Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti |
| 2ND POSITION | Shahil Dey | Maria’s Public School |
| 3RD POSITION | Shankhadeep maity | Tamluk Hamilton High School |
| 4TH POSITION | Shivesh singh | Sunbeam Varuna varanasi |
| 5TH POSITION | Tanisha A.R. Som | Pragjyotika English School, Titabar |
| CLASS 5 TO 8 | ||
| POSITION | NAME | SCHOOL |
| 1ST POSITION | Shahil Dey | Maria’s Public School |
| 2ND POSITION | Aslesha Talukdar | Shrimanta Shankar Academy |
| 3RD POSITION | Nihad Islam Hazarika | Maria’s Public School |
| 4TH POSITION | Souradeep Deb | Don Bosco School,Silchar |
| 5TH POSITION | Keshav Singhal | Sunbeam School Lahartara |
| UPTO CLASS 4 | ||
| POSITION | NAME | SCHOOL |
| 1ST POSITION | Adhiraj Mitra | Loyola School,Jamshedpur |
| 2ND POSITION | Bharsita Saharia | GLORIOUS PUBLIC SCHOOL MANGALDAI |
| 3RD POSITION | Atreyee Talukdar | Shrimanta Shankar Academy |
| 4TH POSITION | Abhirup Saikia | Delhi Public School Guwahati |
| 5TH POSITION | Jayraj Barman | Gurukul Grammar Senior Secondary School |
| BEST PLAYER | Shahil Dey | Maria’s Public School |
| FAIR PLAYER | Karnav P Deka | Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti |
| BEST SCHOOL | Maria Public School | |
