The historic Chess Olympiad victories by India’s men’s and women’s teams in Budapest last month seems to have done its bit to popularise the board game, inspiring more of Mumbai’s youngsters to take to it.

The Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) that will be hosting its 43rd inter-school chess tournament on October 17 at St Sebastian High School (Chembur) has witnessed a surge in entries this year. MSSA have received a whopping 3,037 entries this year from 187 schools for the one-day tournament for children from the age of five to 15 years. This is a huge jump from the 2,847 entries received last year from 167 schools.