GIIS Noida hosts the 1st edition of interschool GSF Online Chess Tournament

 More than 600 students from 10 schools of Global Schools Foundation (GSF) worldwide participated in the first-ever inter school Online Chess Tournament 2022, in which enthusiasts aged 8 to 18 years competed for the top prize. The three-day tournament, graced by Indian Grandmasters couple Pravin Thipsay and Bhagyashree Thipsay. It was an exciting event in which students from Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Malaysia and India vied for the gold in six different categories.

Hosts GIIS Noida school joined hands with UP Sports Chess Association and All India Chess Federation to conduct the event which was entirely held online. Besides students from Global Indian International School, there were also students from Regent International School (Malaysia) and Loyola School, who enthusiastically competed with peers in Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 categories.

Mr Pravin Thipsay, our chief guest who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster and is also the first Indian to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship, congratulated GIIS Noida and GSF for conducting the chess tournament. “Chess is a sport that can be played online, and has the ability to sharpen the brain,” he said, expressing amazement over the “600 participants at the event which made it almost as big as Indian National level chess championship”. He further wished good luck to all the participants and encouraged them to pursue the game diligently. “Never play chess half-heartedly, love the game and play it”

“This was a fantastic event of camaraderie, healthy competitive spirit, and triumph, which showed how much importance the ancient sport of chess holds in today’s world,” said GIIS Noida principal Mr Ganesh Sharma. “I congratulate each and every student, not just for winning but for participating as well, and keeping the flame of the sport burning,” he added.

Garvit Jai from GIIS Noida and Stacy Singh from GIIS Ahmedabad won the boys and girls competition respectively for the U-8 category while Aarav Kumar from GIIS Ahmedabad and Raghavi Navaneeth from GIIS Singapore East Coast campus won in the Under-10 category of boys and girls respectively.

Mitul KH from GIIS Whitefield, Bangalore made a clean sweep in the U-12, U-14 and U-16 boys category, punching above his weight, and winning all three contests. Aditri Shome from GIIS Ahmedabad and Gauri Aditya Chari of GIIS Hadapsar won the first spot in Girls U-12 and U-14 categories. Riya Pachouri from GIIS Noida showed similar feat winning the U-16 and U-18 categories for girls.

Aditya Dongre (Boys) from Smart Campus, Singapore won in the under 18 boys category.

Among school levels, GIIS Ahmedabad stood first in the tournament, GIIS Noida secured Second position, the third position was bagged by GIIS Smart Campus Punggol, Singapore. GIIS Hadapsar campus got the 4th position and GIIS Kuala Lumpur was awarded the 5th position in the tournament.

Global Indian International School, which is part of GSF network, believes in the holistic framework of education in which sports plays an important role. Chess, which originated in India, is part of the GIIS schools’ offerings, and the school encourages student participation in the game which includes grit, intelligence and strategy. As hosts, GIIS Noida invited other GIIS schools from Tokyo, UAE, Singapore, Bangalore and Hyderabad; as well as sister schools under GSF like Regent International.

The large-scale event was, in part, a celebration of 20 years of GSF, which is observing two decades of service in education from September this year. The year-long celebrations will include many more events to showcase the organisation’s commitment to holistic education and excellence for students.

“We strive to motivate our students to look beyond books, and expand their sphere of learning beyond regional boundaries,” said Mr. Rajiv Bansal, Director-Operations, Global Indian International School (GIIS) India. “This initiative will help us identify budding talent and nurture them to become Global champions”. He congratulated the team on living up to the vision and mission of GSF school to give equal importance to extracurricular activities through its 9 GEMS framework, and encouraged them to continue to help students grow in diverse skills.

“This tournament will add substantially to the students’ learning curve, by helping them compete, with some of the best brains across the network,” he added.