Chess Fiji’s youngest player Tanvi Prasad has stamped her mark in the sport after competing in the 2021 World Chess Olympiad.
Prasad is the youngest player in the Fiji team that competed in the recent competition.
“After years of watching my brother and father play chess, I finally built up the courage to enter my first tournament at the age of six,” the Jai Narayan College student of Suva said.
“After that, I started to enter in many chess tournaments.
“At first I didn’t perform well in tournaments, but after a while I got the hang of the game and at the age of nine, I was selected to represent my country in my very first chess Olympiad.
“After a while I started to realise how much I love chess. Many people think of chess as just an ordinary board game, but for me and many other players, chess is more than just a sport.
“It is a very complex and logical game that helps you recognise patterns and test your memory. As a result it can help people develop important life skills.”
This year’s chess Olympiad was very successful for the Fiji team. It was the first time Fiji qualified for division three since 1979.
“All the players worked hard and we were able to surpass all expectations.
“My personal score at the ended of the competition was 8/11 in division four and 3.5/9 in division three.
“After the competition, I realise that Fiji has performed exceptionally well, especially since we do not have an official coach.”
Prasad said chess was considered to be a male dominated sport.
“I want to change that mindset. I encourage everybody reading this to think about learning to play chess during this lockdown.
“Remember you can never be too old or young to start something new.”
She scored 5.5 points from eight games in the 2020 edition FIDE Online Chess Olympiad.
