A Passion for Having Fun with Chess

Errol Tiwari's latest column is out today:

Chess with Errol Tiwari
A passion for having fun with chess
Sunday, August 19th 2007

Sheriffa Ali is eight, tiny, and bursting with energy. She tells me she will switch sides with her opponent across the table during a practice game of chess. I show her the way around. But she crawls under the table to the other side.

Sheriffa, a student of Winfer Gardens Primary School, may behave the way other kids do, but over the chess board she transforms into a grandmaster. She moves the pieces around with confidence, too quickly I say to her, and like every serious chess player, examines a position intensely for opportunites to gain a positional advantage, capture a piece, or execute checkmate. On the chess board, Sheriffa is not a child any more.

Forty-two students attended the Chess Committee's workshop last week and like Sheriffa, they demonstrated a passion for learning and having fun with chess. It was truly impressive. One little girl was visibly upset when she said to me, "I don't have a chess board." Her demeanour changed from one extreme to the other when I handed her a board with pieces.

The kids were separated into seven groups by Workshop Directors Irshad Mohamed and Ronuel Greenidge, and tutors worked with the groups separately. Mr Tony Hanoman, a former Guyana junior and national chess champion held a separate session for the more advanced kids at the Oasis Cafe Too, where he concentrated on tactics and strategy. Mr Hanoman is a former Queen's College student who currently resides in Sweden and teaches chess there. He is home on vacation and presented a dozen chess sets and a chess clock to the committee.

Tomorrow, Mr Hanoman will play a simultaneous chess exhibition starting at 3 pm on the lawns outside Guyana Stores. He will play 25 persons simultaneously.

Students of the Chess Workshop were presented with Certificates of Participation for their efforts and enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, a few parents also took the opportunity to learn the game with the kids.

The workshop was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.