FIDE CEO Borg
impressed by enthusiasm and level of Lankan chess
Promises help
for infrastructure and coaching
Chris
Dhambarage
The Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Geoffrey Borg was
amazed at the extent of enthusiasm among the young players and the development
of the game which has taken place in Sri Lanka over the years.
The fifty-year-old
former national player from Malta
had the opportunity of visiting some of the chess playing centres and schools
in Colombo on
his way to Chennai to make final arrangements for the World Championship clash
between Vishwanath Anand and Magnus Carlsen.
“The
first thing is we look at the health of the actual federation and I can say
with much satisfaction I am very pleased with what I have seen and I was also
quite impressed with the amount of young people playing chess because this is
also your future.
“I know
this is school holidays and still it takes a lot of dedication to come and play
chess as it means you love what you are doing and the fact that you see a lot
of young kids and particularly a lot of girls playing is really encouraging”.
Geoffrey
Borg believed that Sri Lanka
could very soon emerge as a major force and produce international class chess
players if they could introduce the game at classroom level.
“Here we
are discussing the potential of introducing chess in primary schools, chess as
a thinking skill because of course one of the key aspects of chess is that
between the ages of 7 and 12 the human brain is still forming. Chess as a
teaching tool as a thinking skill helps children to develop a lot of attitudes which
basically are coming from a number of other subjects.”
Geoffrey
Borg also highlighted the fact that there is a large percentage of female
participation in chess tournaments in Sri Lanka overall compared to some
of the other countries in the World.
“Traditionally
we always try and push girls to play more and more chess and what I have seen
is you have something like 30 to 40 percent of girls and this is excellent
because it shows that you have a good mix of young girls coming into play.
“This is
good and it means as a nation it is completely open as a culture with girls and
boys playing together. I have spent many months traveling all over the world
and sometimes the girls are split away from the boys which means you don’t get
the sort of cross cultural mixing. In Sri Lanka this is a positive note.”
Geoffrey
Borg also stressed the added advantage of playing chess as it not only helps to
achieve success in competitions but it can also be a great educational tool
which will guide everyone to become responsible citizens.
“If we
can get medals it is fantastic. The Sports Minister no doubt wants medals this
is their point. The Education Minister wants educated citizens and together
chess can produce both. There is nothing negative in the game of chess really I
cannot think of anything negative in chess.
“We want
to see the young ones coming through not may be to become Grand Masters. It
will be nice to see some of them become Grand Masters but what we need is
responsible people in future. This is the first lesson that we seek as chess is
a very responsible game. There is no luck in chess and chess brings no luck
because it is all about life skills.”
The CEO
of the World Chess Federation also promised that he would help Sri Lanka to
improve their infrastructure facilities and to set up a solid base in coaching
and in conducting training sessions.
“We need
to strengthen the trainers. We have a lot of young guys very willing and they
want to do a lot but we need to license them and give them the right plans the
right way and the right programme and the right objectives towards achieving
their targets”.
“As I
promised I will come in January and we will delver a training course to certify
the trainers so that we will have a formal programme where they will be
participating in a global platform” concluded Geoffrey Borg.
Caption:
Geoffrey
Borg (CEO World Chess Federation)
Pic by
Madushanka Siriwardena
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