Chess: CPGA receives equipment from UK partners

The Chess Parents and Guardians Association (CPGA) has been boosted with a donation of chess equipment from students, parents and well-wishers of the Dragon School in Oxford, England.

CPGA chairman Ssubi Kiwanuka received the equipment that included 25 chess sets including tournament style boards and Kasparov boards, with a wall clock from the offices of the Madhvani Group, who played an instrumental role in bringing the sets to Uganda, on Monday.

"We are pleased to help to support the growth of chess in Uganda as a medium to showcase the talents of Ugandan children," Diviya Madhvani said.

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to support the Chess Parents and Guardians Association, and hope this donation will make a positive difference to young chess players in Uganda," he added.

CPGA also received messages from some of the students in the Chess Club at the Dragon School, complementing the beauty of Uganda and encouraging Uganda's chess playing children to take up and keep playing the fun sport because it develops a creative and strategic mind.

They crowned their messages with inspirational words for Uganda's chess playing children, from the Dragon school motto "Arduus ad Solem" which translated from Latin means "Reach For the Sun".

The top players in each category pose with officials and sponsors' representatives after the CPGA Youth Championship Eastern Region qualifiers at Jinja College. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

Kiwanuka who received the equipment from the director Madhvani Group, Roni Madhvani, said: "The effort CPGA has started is open to everyone to support in whatever capacity they can. It is incredible that a school over 5000km away, took the initiative from within its community to send us equipment. It shows that we do live in a vibrant global community and indeed we are extremely grateful for this support."

"Chess play transcends physical ability, geographic location and is an all-weather sport, with the minimal requirement of a chess set. We look forward to working with all our partners to ensure we achieve the positive impact of chess play on the future generations of Uganda," he added.

"We aim to create a generation of thinkers, children with confidence, robust decision-making abilities, and strong critical thinking and numeracy skills. If we can avail chess equipment to as many communities as we can, build capacity in all regions through the chess community, school communities and religious communities, where our nation's children can be trained to think, then our vision of creating a generation of thinkers shall be realized" Kiwanuka concluded.

Founded as the Oxford Preparatory School in 1877, 'The Dragon' as it's popularly known, is one of the best-known schools in England and numbers amongst its former pupils a very wide range of successful men and women including Emma Watson (actor in Harry Potter).

The CPGA Youth Chess Championship is sponsored by Jesa, Stanbic Bank, Sheraton and Vision Group.