Participants at the national chess championship in Puri. Picture by Sarat Patra

Puri, July 27: Young chess wizards have put on their thinking caps and have geared up to take part at the national-level Under-11 chess championship that began here on Thursday.

The event has been organised by Puri Club under the aegis of All-Odisha Chess Association.

About 99 girls from 21 states and 173 boys are from 25 states are taking part in the event. Among the competitors, around 40 players are from Odisha.

Ten title holders, including two women FIDE masters, one women candidate master, two men FIDE masters and five men candidate masters, are taking part.

Among others, there are many internationally rated players. There are two separate categories each for boys and girls. Eleven rounds will be held in each category in the tournament. Each match is played for one-and-half hours. The cash prize is Rs 87,500 in each category.

One of the participants, women candidate master Saina Salonika said that it was a wonderful opportunity for her to display her talent in local conditions. Also, she would get to increase her ELO ratings in the tournament and get much needed exposure that would help in shaping her career.

School and mass education minister Debiprasad Mishra, who inaugurated the championship, said that steps were being taken to make chess a part of the school curriculum.

“Much like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, we have plans to introduce chess in the school syllabus,” he said.

State sports minister Sudam Marandi, who was also present on the occasion, praised the efforts of the organisers. “I will see that a piece of land in Bhubaneswar is allocated to the association so that they can develop the game better,” he said.

The organisers thanked All-India Chess Federation for giving the opportunity to Odisha to hold the coveted sporting event and help popularising the board game among school students. The championship is on till August 1.