Shot in the arm for Botho schools chess tourney

MOTHUSI JOWAWA
Correspondent | Friday August 10, 2012 00:00

The tournament, which forms part of the grassroots development of the game, has been without a sponsor for a while and the P75, 000 sponsorship is expected to cover among other things provision of venue, trophies, medals, cash incentives and computers for the winning school each year. 'A lot of people may wonder why we decided to help Chess among all the available sporting codes in country. We at Botho College view Chess as a very popular game in the country and it is common to see our students playing chess in the courtyard many times electronically.

The game helps students to think, to make decisions, to play an honest game and most importantly know that they can either win or lose,' the Managing Director of Botho College Sheela Raja Ram said in her speech during the launch. The game has been hailed as one that develops the mental capacity of students as those playing it usually tend to perform better academically and the benefits are countless. 'Today in approximately 30 nations across the globe among them Brazil, China, Venezuela, Italy, Israel, Russia, Greece and many other, chess is incorporated into scholastic curriculum.

We are very much prepared and in a position to help the BCF to lobby for the inclusion of chess into the local national curriculum,' she said. The senior schools team championship tournament has been one of the prominent events on the BCF calendar over the years, and the Botho College sponsorship is expected to catapult the event to become one of the best schools chess tournaments considering the lucrative prizes on offer. The tournament is used as a platform to identify players who are developed and drafted into the Senior national team as well as a general recruitment ground for most chess clubs.

'It is such a great honour to be here witnessing yet another fruitful partnership between BCF and Botho College which dates back to 2009 when we jointly brought the World Chess Champion Grand Master Vishwanathan Anand for the first time in Africa. 'This goes to show that Botho College is supportive to chess in Botswana and it coincides with our 30th as well as the institution's 15th anniversaries,' BCF president, Tshepo Sitale said.Sitale emphasized the point of including chess into the education curriculum and requested school headmasters as well as officials from the Ministry of Education and Skills Development to consider chess as a tool that can help develop analytic and logic skill in students.

The launch was attended by among others the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) chairperson Solly Reikeletseng, who hailed the partnership as another major step in the right direction for the development of chess in the country. The tournament will be held at the Botho College Campus in Gaborone and start tomorrow  ending on Sunday the 12th of August.