December Chess Tournament

Tournament in progress:The Manager of the Aguada Mr. Bill Butcher presents the medal to theThird place and top female player: Elida Frutos

First Place Winner: Vidal Adolphus Four best players of the tournament:
Coach of winning team Mr. Carlos Lotiff with Mr. David Coombs :

On Wednesday 17th December a Chess tournament was held for primary school students from five schools. Ontario Christian School, St. Barnabas Anglican School, Santa Elena Primary, Bishop O.P. Martin School and St. Andrews Primary School.

The event was held at the Aguada Hotel in Santa Elena, the venue was kindly provided by the Manager of the Aguada Mr. Bill Butcher. Their conference room proved to be an excellent venue for such an event.

Four of these schools have started a chess club with the assistance of the Belize National Youth Chess Foundation (belizechess.org). There were a total of 25 students taking part and the competition was very tough with many close games. Each student played four games and at the end of the day the winner, undefeated with four wins was Vidal Adolphus from the St. Andrews Anglican Primary School. Second place was taken by Clifford Coleman from Ontario Christian School and in third place and top female was Elida Frutos from St. Barnabas Anglican.

At the start of each round of games the students shake hands before playing and there is complete silence in the room as they concentrate on their moves and try to think what their opponent is planning, as the games end one by one the students congratulate each other with handshakes to signal the end of the game, 'checkmate' is the aim.

The winning team, who had 10 1/2 points, was the team from Bishop Martin Primary School, just half a point behind was St. Barnabas Anglican and in third place was Ontario Christian School.

This event is the first of it's kind in this part of the Cayo district but many more are to follow because chess is the fastest growing sport in Belize, there are 21 primary schools in the District starting chess clubs. Chess is extremely good for developing a whole range of academic and social skills.

I would like to thank the following sponsors whose financial support for the summer chess program enabled us to additionally hold this tournament. Sponsors, Atlantic Bank Ltd, BelizeTelemedia, Ms. Pamella Picon/Belize Christian Ministry, Orange Gifts, Chaa Creek, San Ignacio Hotel, St. Martins Credit Union, Bowen and Bowen. A big thanks to these businesses for assisting in the development of our children.

Report provided by David Coombs, Cayo Co-ordinator, Belize National Youth Chess Foundation. cell 670-5435