Garden High wins 13th Chessmate Inter School Team Rapid Rating 2019
Garden High School beat the defending Champion DPS North Kolkata in round 4 and went on to win 13th Chessmate - The Inter School Rapid Rating Team Championship 2019 in a dramatic finish. Garden High drew with the debutante La Martiniere for Boys in the last round leaving the fate of their team to DPS North. If they had scored a minimum margin win over their last round opponent Don Bosco Park Circus, well things could have been different. Among the girls team, Lakshmipat Singhania Academy won the girls championship for the third consecutive year. This is the only school level rapid rating team championship in the country with no entry fee but it has prizes. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
Garden High soars their flag high
IM Koustav Chatterjee was the spearhead of the tournament who scored 7.0/7 and received best board prize on board #2. He could not attend the prize distribution ceremony as he had to go to another prize distribution ceremony for his academics.
If La Martiniere had won their last round, it would have caused a dramatic finish, as three teams would have ended up at the same match points, however they would have won the tournament. What a fantastic debut it would have been. They just needed half point more in the final round.
Board Prize winners:
Photo Gallery:
Final Standings after 7 Rounds
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 |
| 1 | 3 | GARDEN HIGH SCHOOL | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 20,5 | 0 | 123,5 |
| 2 | 1 | DPS, NORTH KOLKATA | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 20,0 | 0 | 120,0 |
| 3 | 5 | LA MARTINIERE FOR BOYS | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 20,0 | 0 | 109,5 |
| 4 | 4 | ADITYA ACADEMY, DUM DUM | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 20,0 | 0 | 113,0 |
| 5 | 2 | SOUTH POINT HIGH SCHOOL (A) | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 19,0 | 0 | 121,0 |
| 6 | 6 | SOUTH POINT HIGH SCHOOL (B) | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 18,0 | 0 | 114,5 |
| 7 | 14 | THE HERITAGE SCHOOL | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 15,0 | 0 | 100,0 |
| 8 | 7 | DON BOSCO, PARK CIRCUS | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 17,5 | 0 | 113,5 |
| 9 | 15 | LAKSHMIPAT SINGHANIA ACADEMY | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 17,5 | 0 | 88,5 |
| 10 | 16 | INDUS VALLEY WORLD SCHOOL | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 16,0 | 0 | 105,5 |
The tournament was organized by South Point High School on 28th and 29th June 2019 at the school premises after the tournament had to be postponed from it's initial scheduled date because of Cyclone Fani.
The man who convinced the school management to organize a school team championship completely for free along with prize money and then make it a rating tournament, is Rajendra Singh. Currently this is the first and only school level rapid rating team championship in the country which has no entry fee but it has prizes.
