Francistown School of Chess is preparing for its inaugural chess tournament to be held during the Easter Holidays between 19 and 21 April in the Botswana’s second city.
Dubbed “First Capital Bank Easter Show Down” the tournament is expected to attract multitudes of chess lovers from Francistown and the surrounding areas.
In an interview with the Telegraph on Monday, the Director of the organization, Jeremiah Dikgang said the tournament which will be the first of its kind in the second city will have over 100 participants. He said they will host international participants from countries such as Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho.
“The Francistown School of Chess was established last year and its main objective is to grow the love of chess in Francistown and the surrounding areas. The organization was built from a merger of two academies, namely Fountain of Gems and Grivas Chess. The school in located in Minestone location,” he explained.
Francistown School of Chess currently has 40 members and the school targets to develop chess in children of ages of four to 16 years of age. Dikgang said that they have already produced champions who participated in international games.
“We have 15-year-old Atang Masaka who represented Botswana at Africa School in South Africa where there was a continental competition. One of our members, Orefile Moatshe who is eight years also represented Botswana at the same competition last year under the “Under 7 category” and she brought a gold medal home,” he said.
Dikgang emphasized that their aim is to make Francistown a Centre of Chess Excellence. He said chess is a beautiful sport especially for the youth as it instils problems solving skills, helps one think ahead, boosts concentration capabilities and it instils discipline. He said the tournament is sponsored by First Capital Bank.
“We are very happy to see an organization like First Capital Bank come on board and support the growth of chess in the country. They sponsored us at a sum of P22 000. Our aim is to make this an annual event,” he said in conclusion.
