The Mooketsi Segaise-led Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) executive committee has a mountain to climb to secure sponsors to replace the departed partners. Debswana Mining Company parted ways with chess last year, whilst Metropolitan Life recently announced the end of their partnership with the game. For the ultimate edition, which brings to a close a 20-year relationship, Metropolitan has pumped P160, 000 for the national championships. The BCF public relations officer, Goitsemodimo Makgatle, said the departure of Metropolitan is a huge blow for chess. She said it remains unclear what will be the way forward.
Makgatle said Metropolitan has always been the biggest chess sponsor. The first leg of the qualifiers were held over the weekend with the second qualifiers set for this month and finals in May. “The company has informed us that they want to shift focus to other societal problems. This is an indication that sport continues to face sponsorship challenges, it is not only happening to us,” she said. Makgatle said losing Debswana, who were league sponsors and now Metropolitan, means the executive committee has a lot of work to do in finding new partners. But former BCF president, Tshenolo Maruatona, has said the departure of Metropolitan should not be a disappointment. “Metropolitan has walked a long journey with the Botswana chess and they have exceedingly delivered on their commitment. Their exit from chess scene should not spell doom for chess. It ushers in a new perspective and an opportunity for the leadership to invent themselves and look beyond for more partnerships,” Maruatona said.
He said given chess' achievements and where the sport has come from, there is a perfect opportunity to reinvent, package their code and forge forward with developing the sport. “We have not distinctively packaged chess as the sport of choice. We are the only sport in which all the players are top students in their respective classes and that is a distinctive leverage that we need to accentuate to come out as different from other codes,” Maruatona said. However, seasoned chess player, FIDE Master Phemelo Kheto, argues losing the Metropolitan sponsorship is a huge blow. He said it is an indication of the sport's leadership style. “When the women players complained about BCF bad leadership, that was viewed as a secret vendetta. When vice president-administration, vice president-technical, secretary-general and public relations officer spoke up, they were suspended, and (the issue of) vendetta was also thrown around. As sponsors began disappearing like misplaced chess pieces, the leadership blamed vendettas against them,” he said. Kheto argued that when Debswana left and clubs passed a no-confidence vote against the committee, the leadership refused to bow out, claiming it was a plot against them. He said the leadership decided to hang on despite being booted out.
