Check this out, mate! 200 children in Gujarat village set eyes on Grandmasters ‘s title | Vadodara News

VADODARA: A crumbling school building in a Gujarat village has become an unlikely castle of chess ambitions. Here, between walls with peeling paint or sitting on paver blocks outside, nearly 200 children from mostly underprivileged families learn to think 20 moves ahead on the board and aspire to become Grandmasters while their parents worry about what tomorrow might bring.The architect of this winning mindset at Bal Vatika in Ratusinh na Muvada village of Balasinor taluka, 100-odd km from Ahmedabad, is a 45-year-old maths and Gujarati teacher who believes opportunity should have no postal code.Sandip Upadhyay’s initiative has already produced six FIDE-rated players and a string of young rooks who have excelled at state-level tournaments.Such is his conviction that Bal Vatika can become the cradle of chess excellence that Sandip spends a chunk of his salary almost every month on his wards – competition entry fees, transportation, books, and chess kits. “I earn because of my students, and they have 100% right to my money,” he told TOI.Since most of the students have only rudimentary knowledge of English, Sandip has translated Emmanuel Neiman’s advanced chess book, The Magnus Method, into Gujarati to help them gain insights into the skills of five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen.Divya Chauhan, whose father is a farm labourer, has been undefeated across taluka-level chess competitions over the last two years. She finished third in a recent state women’s rapid chess tournament organised in association with the Gujarat Chess Association.The Class 7 girl is among 15 students from Ratusinh na Muvada transferred to schools in Vadodara and Botad under the Gujarat govt’s district-level sports school programme for chess, which offers free education, hostel accommodation and training. The state govt spends at least Rs 1 lakh annually on each trainee.For those who are still part of Bal Vatika, Sandip and his colleagues have formed a trust, raising Rs 1 lakh so far. They continue to appeal for donations to keep the project going and fulfil the audacious vision of producing 50 GMs and 10 world champions.“We ask everyone we meet to contribute just Rs 100 each. With that, we can send our children to bigger tournaments,” Sandip said.A cement company recently donated 30 chess clocks to the school.In barely four years since Sandip made his first move, his precocious wards have competed in 24 state-level tournaments, finishing among the top three in 22 of them. Bal Vatika was adjudged the Best Performing Institution at the Students’ Chess Festival in Gandhinagar last Dec.“I want India’s largest govt-funded chess school to be set up here,” Sandip said.He has already forwarded a proposal to the state govt, requesting support to establish the institution on a three-bigha plot around 500m from the school.