29 Apr 2014

Chairperson of World Chess Federation (FIDE) development commission, Allan Herbert says lack of development structures in Africa hampers growth.

Speaking in an interview, Herbert said another stumbling block was the few numbers of rated tournaments in Africa, which are still not yet enough.

Players taking part in such tournaments were rated but due to their limited number of games, players in Africa including Botswana had to go to other continents in order for them to be able to reach the grandmaster level.

Herbert said he was also concerned by lack of youth tournaments in the continent, saying previously, African chess players participated in the World Youth Games and found it difficult to compete.

Players from Africa played at national championships and then straight to the international tournament while those from continents such as Europe go through continental tournaments.

He said although the African Youth Championship was established six years ago, the continent still lags behind as other continents have regional and sub-regional tournaments.  Chess has World Championships and the Olympiad which is held every two years.

There are Junior and Youth championships and Herbert said a career in chess can be long, starting with the juniors at Under 8 to Masters for players over 60 years.

Without proper development structures, African chess players are finding it difficult to compete and Herbert said this has made 16 year old African youth players to compete with youths from other continents who started competing at 8 years.  For his part,

Tshepo Sitale said African countries including the Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) are forced to skip some tournaments due to lack of funding.

He acknowledged that this development made it difficult for Batswana to compete at international level.

Sitale, who is President for Zone 4.3 said they have been benefiting from the World Travel Grant which is provided by FIDE.

Under this arrangement, players who do well in the Africa Youth Games benefit when participating in the World Youth Games.

FIDE Development Commission is one of the major committees of FIDE and held its first core committee meeting in Botswana.

Herbert said this was in recognition of the growth of the sport in Botswana, stating that its three nominations to the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) Awards was testament to that.  During the meeting, he said they review plans for the whole world and interact with the local federation.  Meanwhile, University of Botswana players dominated the Tertiary Individual Chess Championship – Open with third year student Stephanie Mokhutshwane winning the ladies tournament with 5.5 points.

She was followed by Nametso Ben from ABM and Lebole Segajane in second and third place respectively. 

Speaking in an interview, the excited Stephanie, who also plays basketball said this was her first tournament this year and her first ever championship. She pocketed P600 and a gold medal.

Neo Neo, a civil engineer student from the same institution won the men championship with 6.5 points, followed by his school mates, Keletshabile Monnatsheko and Clifford Masole in second and third respectively. ENDS