Gujarat’s 100-House Village Produces 16 FIDE-Rated Chess Players: How One Teacher Is Building a Rural Chess Powerhouse

There is a small village in the district of Mahisagar in Gujarat which is building an interesting story about chess. Ratusinh Na Muvada is a village with about 100 families and it has been a great source of producing FIDE rated chess players, with 16 players becoming the same.

This success story is brought by Sandip Upadhyay, the mathematics teacher of the village, who introduced chess games to his students back in 2021. What started as a way of entertaining local kids has developed into a bigger project with an idea to give talented kids from poor families the opportunity of professional chess training.

The village might soon host one of the largest government schools for chess in India.

How Small a Gujarat Village Became a Chess Centre

Ratusinh Na Muvada is not your usual sport centre. There are a lot of kids in the village whose parents work as daily wage earners and farm workers; hence, getting professional training was impossible for them.

But things changed in 2021 when mathematics teacher of the village, Sandip Upadhyay introduced the kids to the game of chess. This program got popularity among the students and finally, almost 200 children started learning chess from their teacher.

16 FIDE-Rated Players Identified at the Rural School

The most noticeable success story that can be attributed to the initiative is the emergence of 16 FIDE-rated players at the rural school.

Being a FIDE-rated player is an indication that the player has played recognised chess games using the international chess system and has got an official rating. In a small rural school like the one mentioned, 16 such players are an amazing achievement.

The programme has also facilitated admission of 21 other students to the Gujarat District Level Sports School (DLSS), which is where the students get training in sports as well as education in a boarding environment.

These have been some of the accomplishments that have facilitated putting Ratusinh Na Muvada on Gujarat’s chess map.

Government Chess School to Be Built in Mahisagar

With more and more students taking up chess, there is a need for better infrastructure in the rural school. Currently, the school occupies a small cement-roofed building that has only five rooms with just two being functional.

The Mahisagar district administration has been trying to look for appropriate government land to build a new chess school campus.

The school is expected to be about 8.5 times larger than the current school, with an additional chess coaching hall. It is expected that the project will be implemented through the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

There was earlier land identified, but it turned out that there were ravines in the area, which meant extensive landfilling. Therefore, the administration is trying to find other government land for the project.

Dreams of Sandip Upadhyay Go Beyond Chess

For Sandip Upadhyay, the goal is not to train only a handful of chess experts. His goal is to create as many as 50 grandmasters and 10 world champion players.

A larger vision of Upadhyay is to create a platform that can offer a chance to talented kids coming from poor financial background.

The upcoming model may later attract needy kids from other areas in India as well. Apart from training in chess, Upadhyay also intends to train students for competitive exams such as GPSC and UPSC.

Thus, it will differentiate itself from being just another sports academy. The idea behind the program is not only to promote sports but also education and future career development.

Ankit Rajpara, Gujarat Chess Grandmaster Offers Free Training to Villagers

The progress of the village has caught the eye of Ankit Rajpara who happens to be one of Gujarat’s chess grandmasters.

According to reports, he offers a free coaching class to the village kids every month and has done so for the last seven months.

For kids coming from poor villages, it is a great advantage to have a grandmaster coaching them regularly. It can help the young kids in knowing what the challenges of the competitive world of chess are.