The Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) will on Friday launch a new sub-committee to deal with issues affecting women and girls in chess locally. The committee, which will be known as the BCF Women’s Commission will be launched by the World Chess Federation (WCF) Women’s Commission member, Anastasiia Karlovych. The commission comes into existence as per the terms of the new BCF constitution which was approved by the Registrar of Societies this past year. According to BCF’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Neoyame Katisenge, the BCF Women’s Commission will look at issues of attracting women and girls to the game of chess as well as retaining them in the sport.
Speaking in an interview, the BCF PRO said while the local chess mother body has not had many problems in attracting and retaining women in chess, the BCF felt it necessary to establish the structure as it will help in monitoring the progress of women as well as the improvement of their ratings in the sport. “Compared to our male counterparts locally, the local ladies have experienced more successes in the international arena as shown by the ratings and titles they have.
If you look at our ladies titles, we have garnered all the titles available and we are hoping that with the establishment of this new substructure, we will be able to improve much further,” Katisenge explained. She further indicated that the BCF Women’s Commission will be led by a five members committee that will include the Committee Chairperson, a General Secretary, two Members and one ex-officio member. On how they chose Karlovych to launch the commission, the BCF PRO said the Ukrainian Women Grand Master (WGM) was forwarded by the WCF as she is more experienced with dealing with issues affecting women in chess. “WGM Karlovych is no longer very active in playing chess but is now more focused in mentoring and grooming of young chess players.
As a member of the WCF Women’s Commission, she is very involved in issues affecting women and she is a very suitable candidate to launch our women’s commission,” Katisenge said. Aside from launching the BCF Women’s Commission, Katisenge said while in Botswana, WGM Karlovych will have meetings with the BCF Executive as well as its various structures to share with them ideas on how to develop and further grow the sport of chess locally. While here, Karlovych will also launch the BCF’s 2014 Calendar of Events as well as engage in a simultaneous game of chess with about 30 of Botswana’s emerging chess talents aged between 14 and 18 years.
