Express News Service
CHENNAI: In Chennai, every school has a sports culture. St Bede’s, Vidya Mandir, Don Bosco and Santhome schools are known to be cricket-centric and have strong teams that play in the TNCA inter-school tournaments. Meanwhile, MCTM School in Pursawalkam used to have a good presence in basketball. Lady Andal and Chettinad Vidyashram are known to have produced high-ranking swimmers. Likewise, Velammal Group of Schools has made a mark by promoting chess and creating Grandmasters (GM).
Velammal Nexus, which has the strongest chess team in the country, has made it to the final of the World Online School Chess Tournament to be played in November in Dubai along with the World Championship match of Magnus Carlsen. The final will be an over-the-board event. Velammal team consists of the likes of GM R Praggnanandhaa, GM Gukesh, GM Leon Mendonca and promising players like Pranav, Ajay Karthikeyan, Rakshitta, Rindhya, Savitha. “I am very happy to play for my school and