10 Dec 2015

Palesa Mooketsi, 17, a Jwaneng region chess player at the ongoing Botswana Games  has won all the five rounds played so far and is ranked high on both the boys and the girls categories.

Speaking in a recent side interview at Tsamaya where the games are being played, Palesa said although the heatwave and environmental allergies caused a stir in her overall health, she has managed to surpass the pressure and focus on her game, hence the results.

Not only did she note that it is of vital necessity that all players train hard, focus, think hard, and most importantly enjoy the game, but she also emphasised that she would like to see herself claim the title and make it as far as the Africa Youth Games.

Another 17-year-old Nchidzi Motshusi from Francistown region who is Palesa’s runner up with three and a half points admitted to fumbling in the fifth round because of the competition pressure but noted that she is pleased with how she has performed so far.

On a different note, she said that although she is pleased with the food, she is however disheartened by the resting area as the place tends to have snakes and bugs.

The convener of the chess games, Alex Mpuisang said that the games are going through a smooth sail. He also commended all the players who are doing well in the tournament and encouraged those performing poorly to continue working hard. Mpuisang also expressed that with these Botswana Games, amendments have been made such that the tournament is on individual basis unlike the previous games which were team based.

He said that this new amendment will be beneficial to the individuals because they realised that within a team, some poor performing members tend to feed on the success of other team members, which then overshadows the effort that the other team member made.

The convener alsonoted that by making the tournament individual based, it makes the number of people they have to deal with more manageable.

Mpuisang highlighted that complaints of poor sanitation in the sleeping areas have been dealt with and urged the organising committee to consider changing the venue and planning ahead of time in order to address issues of hygiene and others in the next Botswana Games, should they be held in Francistown. Ends