Velammal Nexus School win World School Chess Tournament at Expo 2020

The Velammal Nexus School receive the trophy from Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Director-General of Expo 2020 Dubai. — Wam

Dubai - The finals were held with the participation of 118 young people from 10 different countries and 12 teams

By Wam

Published: Tue 30 Nov 2021, 5:02 PM

The Indian team Velammal Nexus School emerged champions of the World School Chess Tournament after beating the Peruvian School Saco Oliveros during the finals of the competition, at the Dubai Exhibition Centre of Expo 2020 Dubai.

“We were favorites to win the tournament, but the Peruvian team fought, and they were quite close, it was a very interesting game,” 15-year-old Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju of Velammal Nexus School, said.

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The closing ceremony took place on Monday evening at the Spain Pavilion, in the presence of Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Director-General of Expo 2020 Dubai; and José Manuel Franco, Spanish Secretary of State for Sports.

“I would like to first thank all our friends and our colleagues from Spain for your successful conception and delivery of such a splendid tournament and appropriate celebration of a game that was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula by Arab travelers,” said Al Hashemy.

“At Expo, we are honoured to welcome chess events and activities over the coming weeks, the FIDE World Chess Championship is already taking place at Dubai Exhibition Centre and before the end of December, we will also welcome the Dubai Sports Council Cup,” she added.

Secretary Franco, said: “We are grateful for being able to host the final rounds of this chess tournament on-site, I would like to congratulate and highlight the enormous effort of all the institutions and federations involved.”

He added that “chess is a vehicle which allows us to connect the historical relationship between the Arab and the Spanish culture.”

During the award ceremony, representatives of the Emirati and Israeli teams played a friendly game.

The finals of the World School Chess Tournament were held with the participation of 118 young people from 10 different countries and 12 teams. — Wam