The qualifier for the National Junior Chess Championship begins today from 10 am at the Resource Centre, Woolford Avenue, opposite the Government Technical Institute. The tournament is a seven-round Swiss and continues on March 2 and March 3. The championship will identify some select players to participate in the 2019 National Junior Tournament later in the year. The top finishers will be chosen. One of the favourites for winning the Junior Tournament is undoubtedly newcomer Andre Jagnandan, based on his performance at the recent James Bond Birthday Blitz.
Chess tournaments are played incessantly throughout the universe. People have a love for the game, its mental challenges, its intricacies, its possibilities and its fascinating memories, although chess players do not earn as much as other professional athletes. On February 16, one such tournament, the “Trophée Napoléon” was held in France to remember Napoleon Bonaparte on his 250th birth anniversary. The French town of La Roche-sur-Yon, which was once called “Napoléonville” and which Napoleon founded, invited the French No. 1 chess player, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, to oppose the eminent Dutch grandmaster Jorden van Foreest, in a blitz match that contained many exciting formats. Napoleon, the statesman and successful military leader, was said to have been a fine chess player. In France, the chess opening 1. e4 e5 2. Qf3 is called “Overture Napoleon” or Napoleon’s Opening. Both Lagrave and van Foreest were asked to play the Overture as white in two of their games, and, ironically, both lost with the white pieces. Lagrave won the seven-game match 4/1/2 – 2/1/2.
