Story by Lawrence Trusida, Sportgs Editor
THE International Chess Federation (FIDE) has lauded Zimbabwe’s initiatives to grow the sport in the country.
Zimbabwe has been hosting many chess tournaments and actively sending participants to international engagements.
Currently, the country is hosting the inaugural Victoria Falls Sports Academy International Chess Tournament has attracted over 100 chess prodigies and masters from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and the Indian community.
The initiative has pleased the International Chess Federation (FIDE) which is being represented by their Chess in Education Committee Chairperson Anzel Laubscher.
“We are happy with the effort to spread the game, the good thing about chess it’s that it’s cost effective unlike many physical sports that require expensive equipment, the idea is to spread chess in schools and Zimbabwe has been championing that and we want to make sure that kids also adopt chess as a sport the same way they take rugby, cricket and football,” said FIDE Education committee member, Anzel Laubscher.
The tournament is running concurrently with a trainers’ course.
“We have had to run the train the trainers course, remember chess is part of the curriculum so if we capacitate those that we entrust to build the next generation it means that the future is secure but as a young organisation that I just five months old we are happy so far, and we believe we can grow from here,” noted Victoria Falls Sports Academy chairperson, Mercy Mushangwe.
The finals of the five-day tournament are set for this Wednesday, with top players still in contention.
