Pics by Sara Javis & Rewon Gomes
Kuwait: It was Friday, November the Eighteen, and the IEAS – Salmiya (fondly called as Don Bosco School) buzzed with activity and enthusiasm, right from 12 noon until late evening. Yes, you have guessed it right – the event was the six year old old and the very popular CRYchess tournament. In this seventh chess tournament organized by Friends of CRY Club (FOCC), a hundred and sixty children paired themselves for five rounds of the game. Children of all ages and various nationalities competed in the annual event which had some of those participating over and over every year.
Fr. Francis Sebastian Kharjia, SDB, the School Director of Don Bosco graced the opening ceremony. It was the first CRYchess tournament that he was attending and was surprised to see huge number of children participants. Fr. Francis reminded all to the purpose behind the event and appreciated FOCC’s efforts. The he young competitors were divided into five groups arranged by the participant’s age, competing for the first three places in each group. A special trophy was also the focus which was to be presented to the youngest participant as done in previous years. The players enthusiasm, competitiveness, spirit and style were impressive as they vied for the winner’s trophies.
The youngest of the young was below 7 years. Rarely has a group of children so young appeared so focused and quiet. The players are paired in the Swiss Pairing System, which is used in many international chess tournaments. All the children play all the 5 rounds. After each round, the computer software pairs players based on the automatically calculated player rankings. After the fifth round the final ranking is determined by the software according to the number of games won and on the rating of the opponents defeated. Each group is supervised by an arbiter. The arbiters are volunteers who have a sound chess playing background and offer their services for the cause of promoting this game. FOCC thanks all arbiters for their continued support and cooperation.
The winners in each group were (in the order of merit – first, second and third place): Group White Opal – Jeswin Varghese Jacob, Mohamed Uwaise and Jonathan Vinay; Group Green Emerald: Arunchalam N., Nadimetla Chaithany and Manuel Andrade; Group Red Ruby: Athul Suresh Krishnan, V. Shiva, and Swaraj Challa V.R.K.; Group Blue Saphire: Issac Abheek, K. Prasanna Reddy, and V. Manickam; and Group Yellow Topaz: Viswanath Jayaraman, Chante Mulaan Ceasar; and Astrid Jerald. The tournament would not be so alive and colorful but for the support of the “CRYbuddies”, who are children who have chosen to dedicate their time and effort contributing towards the success of the event. This year, the entire load of activities at the “Kid’s Corner” and the “Buy for CRY” stall were handled by these young volunteers: Sreelekshmi Prithviraj, Aibel George Thomas, Kynara Fernandes, Paaromita Chakravarty, Keerthini Rajkumar, Tamara Fernandes, Rana Modak, Enaam Merchant, Dwane Almeida, Qaisarali Merchant, Syed Salman Hassan, Sneha Sasikumar, Amina Anwar and others including adults. “With CRY everyone wins” is the slogan FOCC carries. In Kuwait, the children are slowly being made aware of the activities of Child, Rights & You (CRY), the parents get an channel for their support and unfortunate children back home in India get a chance to regain their lost childhood through CRY. In addition to the winners, all the participants are awarded a medal and a certificate from CRY. The event was sponsored by DNV Classification and Khuff Trading Company. Complimentary gifts and softdrinks and chips to the children were distributed to FantasyWorld, Almarai, Kitco Group, and Coca-Cola. The snacks counter was operated by Gokul Restaurant.
DNV Country Manager, Girish Sreeraman graced the closing ceremony by his presences and expressed his pleasure at the children’s zeal and excitement which he witnessed throughout the event. Girish Sreeraman congratulated the winning children and in addition reminded them about Child, Rights & You (CRY) mission and objectives. During the closing ceremony the FOCC Chief Coordinator appreciated the enthusiasm of the children and also thanked parents in supporting, encouraging and chauffeuring their children to the tournament. A word of gratitude was voiced to the thunderous applause of the participating children to all FOCC members, IEAS school authorities, newspapers, internet portals and the generous sponsors without which FOCC would not be able to succeed in our efforts. A short talk and presentation of achievements of CRY was given to all present by FOCC committee members and the visual display added to his focus on the deprived children which not amounts to over 14 million by rough estimates in India. Trophies to the winners of each group were presented by Girish Sreeraman. The children proudly showed off their trophies for the group photographs and to the beaming audiences and their parents and supporters as scores of cameras flashed to capture the moment.
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With best compliments from Kuwait Goan Association (KGA)
