The Daily Star (DS): How do you feel after standing tall among 30,000 students from 2062 schools all over the country?

Ahnaf Rashid Chowdhury (ARC): It was really a great achievement to become champions among a lot of schools across the country. I can say everything was good and my personal feeling of being a member of the champion team is great.

DS: Apart from home matches at your school, you all also played away matches at other schools. How was the experience to travel to different schools?

ARC: Playing away matches was a good initiative. We went through a variety of experiences at different schools. Bidyaniketan School in Banani welcomed us with flowers, which was really good. From playing away matches at different schools, we made new friends who also came to watch our games in the final.

DS: How did you start playing chess?

ARC: I learned how to play chess from my father quite a while ago. My elder brother also helped me develop. However, I played a lot of chess games online during the pandemic. The School Chess tournament was my maiden appearance in a competitive tournament.

DS: How did you all prepare for the tournament? Did the preparation hinder your study?

ARC: Actually, we didn't take any preparations for the initial rounds but we gradually faced difficulties as the tournament approached its end. At that point, we all went to the home of our teammate Tahsin Tajwar Zia. It was his father, Grand Master Ziaur Rahman, who trained us for two to three hours per day for two to three weeks.

As it was the beginning of the year, we had less academic pressure and so we could pay more focus on the game and training. I think the tournament did not hamper our studies.

DS: Having performed well in the school chess tournament, do you see yourself continue or stop after just playing one tournament?

ARC: No, I don't want to stop here. I want to take part in different Dhaka-based chess tournaments alongside my studies.

DS: How much do you know about your teammate FM Tahsin Tajwar Zia, who plays in the national chess championship?

ARC: To be honest, I knew Tajwar a little as he is a good chess player. I did not, however, know that he is a national player and became national champion at junior level or that he played the national chess championship. Actually, he was instrumental in our success.

DS: How do you evaluate yourself after playing your first competitive tournament?

ARC: I am more confident now. I have grown a different level of interest in chess which was absent before. I am looking forward to improving my chess and performing better in future.