Bulgarian former chess champion and Grandmaster Marian Petrov arrived in Botswana this week on a mission to impart chess skills on the country’s chess stars.
According to the Botswana Chess Federation (BCF), part of Petrov’s mission in the country will be to train and make assessment of both junior and senior players.
On Monday the Bulgarian opened the Chess Kids Academy. Aside from officially opening the Chess Kids Academy, GM Petrov has also played a simultaneous display selection tournament at the University of Botswana this past Saturday, where 25 young players qualified to play the Grandmaster on the 27th August.
BCF Spokesperson Keenese Katisenge told The Telegraph that Petrov is a reputable coach and his experience will assist in the development of chess in Botswana. “We are excited that Petrov has finally arrived. We believe both our youngsters and national team players will learn a lot from him. During his stay he will drill our players.”
He added that Petrov’s is a professional coach whose team recently won the European Youth chess championships. “We expect the Grandmaster to make a proper assessment of the level of play of our junior and senior players and also make recommendations for improvement,” narrated Katisenge.
With the Botswana Chess National team preparing to compete at the world chess Olympiad games slated for Baku, Azerbaijan later this year, expectation is that the team will be able to intensify preparations during the Grandmaster’s visit.
“It is a pleasure for us as the chess community to have an experienced coach imparting skills on our local players and it should be understood that he will also be in Baku at the World chess Olympiad as Wales national team coach. We would also like for Olympiad teams to benefit from his training. Petrov has played at the highest level in chess so it is a plus for players preparing for the Olympiad games,” Katisenge told The Telegraph.
For his part, Chess Kids Academy Spokesperson Tshepo Sitale mentioned that their intension is to promote professionalism in local chess. He said bringing Petrov to the country will inspire youngsters to dream big in their playing career. ‘’Petrov is a Grandmaster with a much bigger thinking capacity and he will assist in drilling the kids and national team players on how to approach the game. We that believe for youngsters to develop well it is important for them to get knowledge from experienced coaches in the likes of Petrov who have seen it all in the game,” said Sitale.
