Errol Tiwari's latest column is out today:
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.
chess is good
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