Ready to move
YOUNG Arya Singh of Richards Bay Christian School (RBCS) has had an amazing run with her chess career over the past two consecutive years.
This year, Arya will be playing alongside her triplet sisters, Diya and Arti when the trio represent the King Cetshwayo District (KCDM) and KZN Province at the South African Junior Chess Championships (SAJCC) in Boksburg from 16 to 21 December.
The youngest of the trio of siblings, Arya achieved first position at the SAJCC held in Boksburg in January in the U12 division - D Section.
She also qualified to play at the SAJCCC held in Johannesburg in April where she was one of only three girls from KZN for the U12 section to qualify for the closed tournament.
In 2017 she achieved first place position at three tournaments: KCDM Open, KCDM Fun and KCDM Closed followed by wins in this year’s KCDM Summer Open, KCDM Anniversary event; and second position in the KCDM Championship in May and the Women’s Day Boardwalk Open in the U16 category.
She also won the best chess junior female award and was nominated for the best female player award in a Sport category at the Inaugural King Cetshwayo Confederation Awards held in Eshowe, where she finished as runner-up.
The Grade 6 learner strikes a perfect balance between sport, academics and chess and at the school’s awards function in 2015 and 2017 she received the female cricketer of the year award and was selected to represent the King Cetshwayo District at the KZN T20 Cricket Festival. Having achieved a whopping 6 A’s with a 97% aggregate for Natural Sciences and 96% Aggregate for Maths during the last term, Arya’s future goal is to pursue a career in medicine.