Over 400 pupils and students are expected to compete in the 5th edition of the Doves Easter Juniors Chess Championship at the Shree Sahajanand school on April 8.

Addressing a press conference at the school on Monday during the launch, Doves Chess Academy Founder and Woman Fide Master Christine Namaganda flanked by the academy manager Divinepriscilla Nakate and the principal of the school Moses Kirinya said the competition will be held in six different age categories of the; U-6, U-8, U-12, U-14, U-16, and U-18.

There is also a ‘rated category’ where the more established players aged 18 and below will contest to be able to get a FIDE rating, under the Rapid format. The winner in this category will also get a chance to test his/her skills in an international tournament at the Hoogeveen invitational in the Netherlands in October.

“The winners in each category will receive trophies and a gold medal with the first and second runners-up getting silver and bronze medals. We shall also award team trophies to the best three schools on top of other awards to the people with disabilities,” Namaganda said.

“Chess is a very good game because it helps the children in critical thinking and raises their IQ and helps in their planning and you find that most of the best performers in school exams are chess players; it doesn’t only help in mathematics but also other subjects,” Namaganda stated.

She said 190 players from the host school, St. Peter’s Naalya, Hillside PS, Vienna College Namugongo, Froebel School, Aga Khan, and Acorns international School, among others have so far registered for the event which has an entry fee of sh30,000 for each participant.

Kirinya said they were happy and privileged to be associated with the academy and that they had offered a venue and all the amenities plus a drink and a certificate for each of the participants that were going to be used during the event.

“Our school will field over 50 competitors in all categories that we hope will give us an edge as we also look forward to exposing the school to the rest of the country. One of the things we value as an institution is the promotion of co-curricular activities and talent; we want to ensure that we produce a lot of talented athletes not only in chess but even in other disciplines but we are very passionate about games that bring out critical thinking,” Kirinya said.

The Executive Director of the Uganda Road Fund Andrew Naimanye has supported the event with sh1m.