New to competing in the national chess championships, Cedar Grove Private Primary School turned heads at the recently completed National Age Group chess tournament with three winners from the seven students that represented the school.
Coach of the players Naresh Bhola said he was very impressed with the results, as Cedar Grove had a winner in the Under-8 category (Arya Maharaj), the Under-10 girls category (Kaylin Dyanand) as well as the Under-10 boys (Javed Maharaj).
Four other students took part namely Kavita Singh (3rd in the girls U-10), Shivy Maharaj (4th in the girls U-10), Sonath Maharaj 7th and Jonathan Ramdass 8th (Boys U-12). According to Bhola: "The amazing thing about this group is that most of them played their first tournament in school just December last.
"To go unto the national scene and do so well, says a lot about the talent that these young kids possess.
"The principal, Janet Chinnia and her staff have been very corporative and this is one of the reasons that the kids brought the success for Cedar Grove.
"We are going to work even harder this coming year to produce more chess players and with the support that I have received, we will surely have more winners as well."
Bhola, who is third vice-president of the T&T Chess Association (TTCA) said that this year he also wants to re-introduce the inter-school chess tournament which is a great forum for development of the players.