IN an effort to help promote the game of chess nationwide, National Sports Commission on Thursday launched ‘Chess in Schools’, a Grassroots Initiative at the Fort Wellington Secondary School.

The event, which is being spearheaded by Director of Sport, Christopher Jones, will see FIDE National Instructor Wendell Meusa teach the sport to students and teachers.
At the launch, Jones stated that the “NSC realises the additional value chess can add to Guyana’s school system and will continue to promote this initiative nationwide”.

The Director of Sport added that “chess contributes to mental development (mental education) such as critical thinking which has been proved to help students academically and ultimately in life”.

Meusa, who played unbeaten to the title in the Gaico Construction-sponsored Guyana Chess Federation Fide-rated seven-round Swiss tournament last weekend, will look to teach the game in the Mahaica-Berbice area.

The visit is a follow-up by the former national champion and FIDE Candidate Master, who taught the sport to schools in Region Five, including Berbice High School and New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary, last term.

From Monday to Friday, Meusa would be holding classes at Fort Wellington Secondary for students and teachers from the host school, Bygeval Secondary, Bush Lot Secondary and Mahaicony Secondary.

The first four days will be for students and the fifth day for teachers before a competition is held on Saturday.

According to information from the NSC, the top two teams will go on to play against Berbice High School in New Amsterdam, with the ultimate aim of representing Region Five at the proposed Guyana National Inter- School Chess Championships.