03 Sep 2020

Botswana chess sensation, Besa Masaiti has been awarded Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) tertiary elite scholarship for further studies at Texas, USA.

The reigning national champion and national team player was recognised for her abundant chess talent and academic prowess in the past Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE).

For a player who endured a hectic schedule traversing the globe competing in top chess tournaments and sacrificing academics time, Masaiti got 48 points in the BGCSE examinations.

She attained four A*s, three A’s and two B’s that propelled her to become a top achiever at Mater Spei Senior Secondary School.

She will study for a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a minor in Actuarial Science at Texas Technology University in Lubbock, Texas.

The university is the 2020 chess college of the year.

Masaiti said due to the coronavirus pandemic, she could not travel to the university for the first semester.

Masaiti, who has started her university modules online last week, is expected to migrate to the US in January if the pandemic situation subsides.

“I applied in March and has been in suspense due to the COVID-19 delays.

I am happy my dream has come true.

I have worked so hard to become a top achiever so that I could study abroad.

The scholarship requires me to study and play competitive chess.

She said she had learnt to balance the game and academics,” she said.

She further said it was a privilege that she would be working with grandmaster Alex Onischuk who was the head coach at the University.

“I am looking forward to the challenge and I am going to put a lot of work on it.

For her part, Botswana Chess Federation public relations director, Kutlwano Tatolo said they appreciated the sponsorship, more so that they had been applying every year.

“Besa is the first chess player to get the sponsorship.

It makes more sense since she is still young and she has always proven that she is academically gifted.

Her sponsorship is the beginning of many things to come, as she is paving for the other kids coming after her,” she added.

Masaiti’s recent achievements are the 2020 Metropolitan National Championships and representing the country in the first online chess Olympiad early this month.

In 2019, she was named BNSC Young Sports Woman of the year, and she also represented Botswana at 2019 World Africa Schools in Turkey.

In the previous year, Masaiti was the youngest member of the national team during the World Chess Olympiads in Georgia.

She came out as a joint top performer despite the outing being her maiden one.

She represented Botswana at the 2017 world youth Chess Tournament in Romania.

She has been twice an African schools chess champion and has twice won bronze at the continental level.

She has won several tournaments within Southern Africa and is a champion for many local competitions. Ends