A look at the commencement of the inter-school chess competition
The Queen’s College Auditorium was a hive of activity on Wednesday morning, when the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) and the Ministry of Education (MoE), through their Allied Arts Department, collaborated to host an inter-school chess competition. This a direct result of their efforts to resuscitate the ‘chess in schools initiative’ over the past year.
According to the GCF, some 15 schools from the Georgetown educational district and 160 children were signed up for the event, which will see competition in three categories: an Open Team, a Female Team, and an Individual Section.
The tournament’s structure will see each player having 25 minutes to play and a 10-second increment after each move.
During the tournament’s opening ceremony, at the same venue at Thomas Lands and Camp Road, Georgetown on Wednesday, GCF President Anand Raghunauth described the tournament’s commencement as a great moment for the sport. Raghunauth explained, “Today is a great moment for chess from the GCF’s point of view. This partnership started maybe last September, I believe, where we would’ve met with the CEO and started communicating our ideas as to where we would like chess. Stemming from that, we were able to access the Allied Arts programme under the Priority Areas programme.
“Having entered into that relationship with the Allied Arts programme, we were able to put chess into several schools in Georgetown; train several P.E. teachers, and widen the base of chess players at the junior level.
“This could not have been done by the Federation alone. So, it exemplifies what partnerships can do,” the GCF President further opined.
Touching on the recently resuscitated ‘chess in schools initiative’ through the Priority Areas programme, Raghunauth informed that the Ministry has done its part, through this tournament, in operationalizing the necessary competitive side of the programme.
The GCF President explained, “We are having some challenges where, in my class last year, 300 children from one secondary school almost all of them can play. However, moving to competitive chess is a different skill. So, the Education Ministry has done its part in the sense that they have delivered this to every child; however, how do we move those children that have the talent to competitive chess, or to utilize this talent? We must not leave a gap in the system where it is underutilized and left to waste, like the many other qualifications that we acquire on our life’s path. So, utilizing this skill now becomes important,” Raghunauth added.
Meanwhile, Head of the Ministry’s Allied Arts Department, Nicholas Fraser, highlighted the need for training personnel when chess was undertaken in the Priority Areas programme, and gave some insight regarding the Ministry’s effort to do so. Fraser informed the sizeable gathering at QC’s Auditorium, “One of the things we spoke about was the importance of having teachers trained, and the importance of having more persons with that knowledge sharing that knowledge in schools. And so, having the five-priority programme come on, and having chess added to that programme, assisted in ensuring that we had a lot of teachers trained.
“In addition, we immediately coordinated to have an internationally accredited trainer come and do a workshop at School of the Nations. And so, with that workshop, we started this journey of having more instructors in schools.
“We’re very happy to see chess move from where it was maybe more than 18 months ago to where it is now,” The Allied Arts Head added.
Hosts Queen’s College, the Bishops’ High, Christ Church Secondary, Dolphin Secondary, Houston Secondary, Kingston Secondary, Marian Academy, New Guyana School, Richard Ishmael Secondary, School of the Nations, St. John’s College, St. Joseph High, St. Roses High, St. Stanislaus College and Queenstown Secondary are among the schools slated to compete in the tournament.
According to the GCF, business entities TOPCO juices and Sunshine Snacks are also supporting the tournament.
