The inaugural ceremony of the nationwide Marks Active School Chess Champs was held 4th July at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The chess championship is organised by the Bangladesh Chess Federation under the auspices of Abul Khair Group.
Hon’ble Minister of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, MP inaugurated the school chess competition as chief guest.
Dr. Benazir Ahmed, BPM (bar), Inspector General of Police and President of the South Asian Chess Council and Bangladesh Chess Federation presided over the ceremony.
Md. Mesbah Uddin, Secretary, Ministry of Youth Sports, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was present as the Guest of Honor.
General Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim, Additional DIG of Bangladesh Police and Joint Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation Dr. Shoeb Reaz Alam and Grand Master Niaz Murshed gave speeches in the ceremony.
Abu Saeed Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Director of Abul Khair Group and Vice President of Bangladesh Chess Federation, KM Shahidullah, Vice President of Bangladesh Chess Federation, Masudur Rahman Mallick Dipu, Joint Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation, Executive Member and Member-Secretary of School Chess Committee International Organiser Mahmuda Haque Chowdhury Moly,
Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman and Grandmaster Enamul Hossain Razib and Executive Members of Bangladesh Chess Federation were present.
All the district police superintendents, general secretaries of district sports association and other officials and students of the school attended the inaugural function through virtual zoom and before the inaugural function chess workshops were held in all the districts today to impart brief training on chess to the school students.
Superintendents of Police of different districts and general secretaries of district sports association bodies and officials of chess committees spoke through Zoom.
Before the inaugural function, three Grandmasters of the country Niaz Murshed, Ziaur Rahman and Enamul Hossain Razib along with 50 school students participated in the Simultaneous Chess.
This year’s school chess is being held at the team level. 4 regular 2 additional players from each school will participate. Each match will be played on four boards and a school will have four players on four boards. Through a two-day selection competition, 8 to 10 teams will be selected in each district for the school chess competition in a home and away system. After the district level, school chess will be held at the divisional level and the final competition will be held in Dhaka with the winners of the divisional level.
The champion team of the final competition will be awarded one million taka, the runner-up team five lakh taka and the third place team three lakh taka. In addition, four students (2 males and 2 females) selected from the school chess competition will be sent to Europe for 4 months’ chess training.