13 Jul 2015

Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) development director, Mothokomedi Thabano says the annual Mater Spei College Chess Festival has been growing by leaps and bounds since its inception three years ago.

Speaking in an interview with BOPA on Saturday (July 11), Thabano said this year the festival attracted 801 participants from schools all over the country.

Thabano said he was thankful that since government and the Teachers Unions resolved their differences on overtimes, the chess festival which is sponsored by Mater Spei College PTA has recorded an increase in number of participating schools.

He explained that in the junior schools’ category 50 boys and 38 girls’ teams registered to take part while in the senior schools category 36 boys and 18 girls’ teams registered.

He further said in the primary school category there were no teams but only 60 participants registered as individuals. He attributed the low numbers in the primary school category to the on-going Botswana Primary School Sports Association (BOPSSA) competitions.

Thabano said apart from winning prizes the festival imparted skills on players to help them prepare for international standard competitions.

Though the festival is doing well in terms of sponsorship it still faces challenges such as transport of players from various regions and it sometimes collide with other activities such as subject fairs, he said.

Thabano said winners at the festival would walk away with chess clocks, chess sets, score books and trophies. Ends