GCF building strong foundation for special needs chess – Raghunath

By Michelangelo Jacobus

The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) is continuing to strengthen its Special Needs Chess Programme, with a focus on training teachers, staging tournaments, and expanding opportunities for students across several institutions.
The programme, which is supported by a dedicated Special Needs Committee, has been active over the last two to three years and includes work with institutions such as the David Rose Special School and the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre. The GCF has also been working closely with the Deaf Association of Guyana as part of its wider effort to make chess more accessible.
Speaking to Guyana Times Sport on the side-lines of the ongoing National Junior Championship Qualifiers at Olympic House, Liliendaal, GCF President Anand Raghunath said the federation has been placing strong emphasis on building capacity among teachers who work with special needs children.
“We train teachers that teach special needs children. We’ve been doing this for the last three to four years, and we’ve now built the capacity where the teachers can play chess,” Raghunath said.

He noted that the Federation has introduced training sessions and tournaments for teachers, which have helped to create more interest and involvement in the sport.
“Some of the teachers are now coming out to our tournaments,” he added.
According to Raghunauth, the aim is to build a strong base for special needs chess by ensuring that both teachers and students are actively involved. He said several schools have been participating in tournaments, with students travelling to one central location whenever events are held.
“That is something that we visualise as building the base in special needs chess. We have many children participating; we have all the schools participating. No matter how far the school is, they come down to one centre when we have tournaments,” he explained.
Raghunath also credited GCF Director Sabine McIntosh, who heads the Federation’s special needs programme, for the progress made so far.
He shared, “We have a great person, Sabine McIntosh, who heads our special needs part of our programme. She is one of our directors, and I must give her credit for that. She has been doing a fantastic job.”

While the GCF has not yet been able to field a full special needs team for the Chess Olympiad, Raghunath said the federation remains committed to developing enough players to reach that stage.
“We are working continuously to build that part. We have not been able to get enough players to send an Olympiad team as yet, but we are building,” he stated.
Guyana has already had special needs representation at the Olympiad level. In 2022, Anaya Lall, who was 12 years old at the time, was part of Guyana’s Olympiad team that competed in India.
“One special needs person actually took part in our Olympiad team when she made the team to India four years ago, and she was playing on one of the boards,” Raghunath recalled. “She was just moving up so fast. She’s still contributing. She’s now overseas, but when she comes, she contributes to building Chess.”
Raghunath said the Federation sees chess as an important tool in education and development, especially for special needs children, and will continue to push for growth in that area.
“We are building bases in that area, and it’s a real pleasure to really focus on chess in education for special needs children. We are going to have that sector grow as fast as we can,” he said.