Inaugural chess event gets underway
Chess Interactions Botswana will tomorrow stage the inaugural National Youths and Cadet Championships until Sunday at the University of Botswana in Gaborone.
The event will be played over seven rounds of standard chess games and the chief organiser, Vincent Masole told Mmegi Sport that the tournament has received financial backing from Zen Engineering Services worth P10,000. Masole said as of October 20, which was the registration dead line, they had received entrants from Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. “The tournament is specifically organised for chess talent from the ages of eight to 18 as part of grassroots development and also to compliment the Botswana Chess Federation’s effort of youth development,” he said.
Masole said local youth players have been among the best in Africa for close to 10 years now. “All that glory is mostly seen in other countries because that is where they win. For that reason, we at Chess Interactions Botswana decided to organise a youth tournament here at home so that we can have our youngsters playing in the hundreds,” he said.
Masole said the tournament would launch young chess enthusiasts to international exposure in chess tournaments. National team player Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Arona Moshoboro, who recently represented Botswana at the Chennai Chess Olympiad in India, is expected to lead team Botswana in this venture. Masole said
Moshoboro together with her sister, WCM Laone Phoebe Moshoboro and the younger Maya Otimile, have decided to compete in the Open Section where they will battle it out with the boys in the Rated Youth Section.
The Moshoboro sisters play for Lucena Chess Academy in Kanye. Celebrated brothers, Tumelo and Bupe Lwenyeka from Zambia are expected to unsettle the ranks at the top where local star, Gideon Masaiti of Rock and Roll Chess Club is the top seed and also a favourite.
Masole said for the first time, the Under 8 sections would have more than 10 participants both in the girls and boys sections. He said that is an indication that their effort over the years is bearing positive fruits. For the first time, the flagship championship of local chess, the Botswana Open did not take place this year.
The championship was used to attract powerful players from neighbouring countries such as International Master Chitumbo ‘The Copper Eagle’ Mwali of Zambia. The player won the tournament on two occasions, in 2014 and 2015. Masole said the Botswana Open is a big event, probably the biggest after the National Championship in the local chess calendar. “No other tournament brings chess players from other countries to Botswana than the Botswana Open.
It is that tournament that we all look forward to every year. I for one have attended that tournament as a player, organiser and arbiter without fail every year for the last two decades,” Masole said.
He added that the absence of the Botswana Open this year dealt a big blow to chess enthusiasts in the region. He said they hope everything gets rectified so they have it back soon.