APPROXIMATELY 200 students from Queen’s College and St Stanislaus College are benefitting from the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) Chess-in-Schools programme.

The initial phase of the online programme will introduce students and teachers of Grades 8 and 9 to the board game.
According to a release from the GCF, participants will benefit from 10 hours of training over four days (December 6-9), as they are taught the basics of the game.

“This introductory course was established by the GCF in close collaboration with Queen’s College Chess coordinator, Dianne Henry, and St Stanislaus College Games Master, Robert Fernandes, as well as the respective school administrations.”

The programme is being supervised and conducted by the GCF ‘Chess in Schools’ team.
The federation, at its AGM in early November, said that it intends to spread the game at the junior level.

It has already run off a successful ‘Introduction to Chess’ programme at School of the Nations.
The programme, which is in its third term, has introduced some 150 students to the game.

According to information from the vice-president of the federation, Anand Raghunauth, Bishops’ High School yesterday confirmed its participation and will be the next school to benefit from the introductory programme.

Additionally, over 100 students from various schools have been successfully guided through the beginners’ level after they were selected to take part in GCF Sunday afternoon classes.

The release added that the federation is now enrolling for January and February classes which will span six weeks.

“Despite the pandemic, the growth of chess in the seven to 12 age group has been significant and the GCF remains committed to investing in the development of youths in the sport. The Guyana Chess Federation can be followed on Facebook and on their webpage www.guyanachess.org.”