Ballygunge:
An online chess challenge for students of Jesuit schools across four continents was launched at St Lawrence School on Friday with a face-off between two grandmasters and a grand prize to checkmate all prizes: global peace.
Around 20 students from schools in the US, Europe and South America have already registered for the event, scheduled to start in mid-April.
The tournament, called Chess ‘n’ Mate, will be played in a league format with each player guaranteed more than one match. The draw will be such that players from countries that traditionally have had strained relations will be clubbed together so that they get to know each other and become friends.
“What happens after the game is just as important as competing. There will be the usual prizes for the winners of the tournament, of course, but what sets us apart is the concept. Competitors will have to coin slogans after each match and the five best lines on the theme “Peace through sport” will be rewarded,” said Rahul Mukherji of the St Lawrence Old Boys’ Association, which is organising the tournament in collaboration with the school.
Jesuits are members of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of priests founded by St Ignatius Loyola, St Francis Xavier and others in 1534. They run schools in 160 countries.
The three exhibition matches on Friday were between Grandmaster and former women’s world champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk, who was in Paris, and Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua, who made his moves sitting inside the Fr Wavreil Hall at St Lawrence School.
Barua won one of the matches and Kosteniuk the other two.
The matches were streamed live and the recording would be used to promote the online tournament.
Speaking on Skype later, Kosteniuk, who is an ambassador for an organisation called Peace and Sport, told the students to spread the word. “Let’s work towards a day when there are no wars… Battles should be fought only on the chessboard,” she said.
Students from Lithuania, Brazil, the US, Albania, Spain and India have registered for the challenge.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Calcutta / by Rith Basu / April 07th, 2018