Chess' Thabano bows out with head held high
Koketso Kgoboge | Friday January 15, 2021 15:17
Motlhokomedi Thabano will not seek re-election after his two consecutive terms while the sponsorship deal with mining giant, Debswana, expires. It is premature to know who would be contesting as candidates are only allowed to declare interest three months before elections. The elections will be held mid-year.
Thabano leaves a significant track record as Botswana has scribbled its name in high echelons of international chess platforms. Although he was never a reputable player himself, he proved a good leader. In the past five years, his stewardship did not go unrecognised. He was nominated Sports Administrator of the year three times and crowned twice. His previous portfolio in development proved worthwhile as there was an exponential growth at the grassroots level.
The likes of Women Fide (WFM) Besa Masaliti, Thuto Mpene, Botlhe Lekang, Desire Machinya, Women Chess Master (CM) Refilwe Gabatshwarwe, (WFM) Naledi Marape, Ruth Otisitswe, Chess Master Marape Marape junior, CM Iphazha Masala, Susan Sethebe to name a few, were revealed.
Most of the youngsters were rewarded with titles and elevated Elo ratings. Thabano also introduced a Parents Teachers Association sponsored chess festival which brought together about one thousand youth athletes under one roof for more than five days, the Mater Spei Chess festival, sponsored by Mater Spei College. Upon ascending into the office of chess presidency, the first notable achievement of his committee was bringing a Russian Grandmaster (GM) Nickolai Chadaev to train the 2017 Africa Schools team.
A the time, the team was preparing for the Africa Schools Individual Chess Championships held in Harare. The move worked magic as Botswana was crowned African Schools champions for the second year running. Chadaev’s visit brought more excitement to the love of the game for the youth.
It also resulted in improvement in the juniors who posed a strong challenge to their senior counterparts. After Chadaev, BCF was blessed with yet another high profile visit of then, president of World Chess Federation Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.
It was the first visit of its kind since the formation of the federation in 1982. While in Botswana, the president met then Minister of Basic Education Unity Dow and engaged her about the Chess in Education programme.
BCF enjoyed support from MOBE for chess events including sponsoring junior players to Turkey for World Schools Chess championships in 2019. MOBE and BCF later penned a memorandum of understanding for a partnership.
Thabano said their mandate was to transform chess in all facets, to conquer Africa and the world. “We continued to offer support to senior athletes to participate in international events, and they rewarded us with silverware.'
We were also successful in bringing back some athletes from retirement and those that seemed to have lost interest in the game as we tried to take chess to a whole new direction, he said. With success partnerships and sponsorships soared. The likes of Grace World Africa Foundation, Kobe trading, Roscoe Bona, Malike Mmohe, Morupule Coal Mine, CCC, Capital Bank, Collins Chilisa Consultants came on board. A four-year sponsorship worth over aP1million from Debswana Diamond Company was clinched.
Debswana sponsorship rejuvenated club structures. Chess league was reintroduced after a nine year hiatus since the last Mahindra sponsorship. Old partners such as Metropolitan Botswana, Botswana Ash, Mater Spei College, Botho University, Legae Academy, University of Botswana, Kalahari Associates, Grant Thornton, Mascom Wireless, Airefficiency were all maintained.
Through remarkable performance in the international radar, BCF was able to source more than 200% of BNSC grant in sponsorships over the past five years. With the massive backing from the business community, chess saw the springing up of academies such as Francistown School of Chess, Moroka Chess Academy, and Limitless Minds, to name a few.
“These academies came handy. They tackled some other components of the game that were lacking. Limitless Minds introduced chess for the blind, Francistown school of chess met the needs of people of the north, and led to more accessibility of the game for the youth especially,”said Thabano.
Apart from developing players, BCF was able to bring two FIDE Seminars in 2019, one being the Arbiters seminar where aspiring arbiters were given norms and increased the number of future Arbiters including two women, WIM Onkemetse Francis-Gumpo and Senatle Lekomola. The federation also hosted a trainers seminar where coaches became FIDE licenced and increased pool of FIDE trainers in the country.
For the future, Thabano said he wishes to see chess as an academic tool that improves grades of learners and makes a difference in the education system of Botswana.