15 Jun 2014

Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) affiliates and the chess community at large have been asked to respect the sport's leadership in order to maintain the legacy that the federation is known for.

Speaking at the federation’s ordinary general meeting in Lobatse over the weekend, Botswana National Sports Committee (BNSC) acting chief executive officer, Steady Basupang spoke strongly against instability in many sporting codes in the country.

He said most codes did not do well because of instability amongst its members and affiliates hence the problem need to be addressed for sport to develop in the country.

Babusang commended BCF for being stable, adding that the federation had never elected and de-elected its leadership before their term of office expires like what was happening in some codes.

He however cautioned the chess leadership and community not to portray themselves in a negative manner that might attract negative media reports.
Babusang advised that the executive committee were there to give guidance by dealing with matters that qualifies to provide stability to enhance progress.

Meanwhile, BCF president, Tshenolo Maruatona explained that the meeting presented the committee with an opportunity to reflect on its performance over the past year after the new executive committee took over.

He highlighted a number of achievements in line with the commitment they made after they were elected into office.

Most notable, he said, the new committee has championed the introduction of chess at primary school level and this has culminated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding with BOPSSA to cascade chess to over 800 primary schools in the country. 

To date the committee has donated chess sets and books to over 40 primary schools. The federation has also successfully hosted a number of local tournaments characterised by a high turnout of mostly school going pupils.  Most importantly, there has been over five tournaments for primary schools.

Maruatona further said there has been an impressive increase in sponsorship from existing sponsors for the federation. Notably, the federation has seen National Development Bank  and Metropolitan substantially increasing sponsorships for their annual tournaments. 

Debswana last year increased the sponsorship for Botswana Open from P20 000 to P70 000.

The president also explained that the new partnerships have been forged with Spar, Blue Security Solutions, former chess player, Dr Marape Marape, Cally Clothing and the federation has been encouraging self-sponsored tournaments.

Maruatona said the federation has been one of the few codes to formulate its strategy and align it to that of BNSC 2028 as well as electing key sub-structures to help deliver the strategy.

The women’s commission was also elected and endorsed by the world chess body and has been working to promote chess amongst the girls in the country.  ENDS