Vansh wins U-16 MSSA chess title

Vansh Aggarwal

Vansh Aggarwal, 14, of Dhirubhai International School (BKC), won his maiden gold medal after finishing in top position in the boys' under-16 Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) inter-school chess tournament played at the St Sebastian High School hall, Chembur on Thursday.

The Class VIII student, who had previously won a bronze medal, was at his brilliant best and finished with an all-win record in the six-round competition to claim the top honours.

"I am really happy and excited to win the gold medal and aim to win again next year. It was good to be playing again after a long time due to the Covid-19 lockdown. I'm thankful to my coach Nisha Mohota with whom I train thrice a week and I also practise daily," revealed Vansh, who has been World Chess champion Magnus Carlsen's fan since he was a kid.

Vansh's tally of six points was one full point ahead of the silver medal winner Somaiya Shreyansh of CNMS ICSE (Vile Parle) and Hrrehan Bamboat of St Mary's ICSE (Mazagaon), who won bronze. Both Somaiya and Hrrehan finished with 5 points each, but the former was declared winner of the silver on account of better progressive scores.