The Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) and Cally Clothing will group up to fight breast cancer with a scheduled one-day chess tournament on October 29 at the University of Botswana (UB) which the chess governing body regards as a powerful tool to raise awareness.
The open tournament is a FIDE-rated event to be played on a time format. BCF says it is encouraging sharp thinking hence the clocking format.
“The game of chess can be lost on the board and also on time. Speed Chess is fast chess also called blitz which teaches players to think fast and learn to manage their time well during the game.
“We saw it fit to raise breast cancer awareness through an event of this nature which encourages speed thinking,” reads a BCF statement.
BCF spokesperson Keenese Katisenge said it was important for the local sport fraternity to raise awareness on social ills and other diseases that can affect athletes and society through sport initiatives.
“Sport has demonstrated in the past to be a powerful tool for education and thus BCF is using it to help cancer associations around the world to take breast cancer education to sports people and the public,” Katisenge told Sunday Standard.
Part of the programme will include breast cancer victims who will share motivational speeches on the fight against the illness.
“The event will be thronged by people suffering from the illness who will share their experiences and educate about challenges that come along with fighting cancer. We encourage men to be among those in the fight against breast cancer,” Katisenge said.
Symptoms and effects of breast cancer will also be on the agenda. “It is critical that we continuously assess our bodies for early detection. Breast cancer needs individuals to be able to pick up signs and symptoms for early diagnosis,” said Katisenge.
Katisenge revealed that Cally Clothing shares the same sentiments of the “pink” awareness campaign in the fight against breast cancer as evidenced by the 100 pink breast cancer awareness T-shirts donated to the event as it is the norm worldwide to associate breast cancer with the pink colour, concluded Katisenge.
