Project Chess Zambia and the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa held the first JC Flowers Chess Championships in Livingstone Zambia yesterday. The one-day invitational tournament was a chance for five of the local schools enrolled in the JC Flowers Foundation Chess Initiative to take part in a round-robin tournament to celebrate the first successful year of the program.
A total of fifty school children took part in the 5 round event which was played as an eight-board round robin. Each school was allowed to field a team of 8 players in every round with the teams fielded on a non-restricted basis as long as each team comprised at least two girls every round. Board substitutions were allowed, just to add to the fun.
The children really enjoyed the format which was aimed at giving them some competitive interaction but in a fun and social setting. After 5 rounds of play, Zambezi Primary emerged as the overall winners, with a total of 22 points.
Libuyu Primary came second with 19 points, while the host school, Holy Cross Primary , amassed 18.5 points to end third.
A small open tournament was also held in parallel with the schools event and CM Chola Musonda emerged as the sole winner with a score of 4/5. There was a three way tie for second position with Elias Musonda, Frank Ngombolo and Mathews Banda all scoring 3.5 points.
The event will hopefully become an annual feature as the Patron of the Program, Chris Flowers also funds an extensive anti-Malaria program which hosts an annual conference alternating between Victoria Falls and Livingston.
Chris attended the event in person and took the opportunity to hand over chess equipment comprising of 170 chess sets, 20 Clocks, 4 Demonstration boards as well as teacher training handbooks to the Zimbabwe Chess Federation Vice President, Clive Mphambela. This equipment will be used to launch the Zimbabwe leg of the program which is scheduled to start in 4 schools in Victoria Falls from March 2019.
The program in Zambian is already benefiting in excess of 900 learners in 8 public primary schools located in and around the Livingston area.
A total of fifty school children took part in the 5 round event which was played as an eight-board round robin. Each school was allowed to field a team of 8 players in every round with the teams fielded on a non-restricted basis as long as each team comprised at least two girls every round. Board substitutions were allowed, just to add to the fun.
The children really enjoyed the format which was aimed at giving them some competitive interaction but in a fun and social setting. After 5 rounds of play, Zambezi Primary emerged as the overall winners, with a total of 22 points.
Libuyu Primary came second with 19 points, while the host school, Holy Cross Primary , amassed 18.5 points to end third.
A small open tournament was also held in parallel with the schools event and CM Chola Musonda emerged as the sole winner with a score of 4/5. There was a three way tie for second position with Elias Musonda, Frank Ngombolo and Mathews Banda all scoring 3.5 points.
The event will hopefully become an annual feature as the Patron of the Program, Chris Flowers also funds an extensive anti-Malaria program which hosts an annual conference alternating between Victoria Falls and Livingston.
Chris attended the event in person and took the opportunity to hand over chess equipment comprising of 170 chess sets, 20 Clocks, 4 Demonstration boards as well as teacher training handbooks to the Zimbabwe Chess Federation Vice President, Clive Mphambela. This equipment will be used to launch the Zimbabwe leg of the program which is scheduled to start in 4 schools in Victoria Falls from March 2019.
The program in Zambian is already benefiting in excess of 900 learners in 8 public primary schools located in and around the Livingston area.
