Choudwar jail beat Chicago prison in inter-jail chess

CUTTACK: Choudwar Circle Jail defeated Chicago Prison in a recently held friendly International online inter-jail chess tournament.According to jail sources, a friendly national online inter-jail chess tournament was first organised among 21 jails of the country on July 28, where a four-member team of Choudwar Circle Jail beat Gujarat’s Baroda jail in the final.   

Later, the champion team comprising Niranjan Behera, Krushnapriya Singh, Sagar Swain, Sidharth Prusty participated in the friendly international online jail chess tournament organised by FIDE on chess.com platform on August 2, where Choudwar Circle Jail defeated Chicago Prison 3-1, said trainer Satya Ranjan Patnaik.

“We have further extended training and practice of the champion team of Choudwar Jail till September 31 to make them ready for participating in the World Jail Chess Championship scheduled to be organised on October 27 and 28,” said Patnaik.  

In a bid to help inmates overcome the stigma associated with imprisonment and aid in their smooth reintegration into the society upon their release, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) had launched Parivartan - Prison to Pride initiative at 21 jails across the country including Odisha’s Special Jail in Bhubaneswar’s Jharpada and Circle Jail in Choudwar by imparting training to inmates to play chess both online and offline.

Initially, training was imparted to 22 inmates of Choudwar Circle Jail from June 10. While 12 of them learnt to play the game, 10 could play well and six excelled. The four-member team was formed from among them by giving further training to improve their skills under the aegis of DG Prison, Director, Correctional Services Dr. Manoj Kumar Chhabra.

While IOCL’s Sports Officer Mahua Panigrahi had provided all necessary sports infrastructure and online facilities, SR Chess Centre  imparted the training. IOCL’s Grand Master Abhijit Kunte was the observer of the tournaments.

“We are proud of our team for defeating the much experienced Chicago jail team and expecting best performance in the upcoming World Prison Chess Championship,” said Choudwar Circle Jail Superintendent Pradipta Kumar Behera.