Africa-Press – Botswana. Local chess fraternity is closing the year 2023 on a high by hosting the Elite Besa Masaiti International Chess Tournament at Cresta Hotel, Gaborone.
The tournament, which started yesterday and ends on Saturday is presented by Rock and Roll Chess Masters Botswana and others under the auspices of Botswana Chess Federation .
It will be held under the theme: Changing the Game for the Girl Child and is open to girls and women of all ages.
It is sponsored by Besa’s mentor from the USA and the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sports and Culture.
Tournament organiser, Charles Masaiti said the tournament, viewed as a foundation for the development of women in chess and to encourage more women to partake in the game has attracted three women players from Botswana, two from Poland and one each from Nigeria, Romania, Georgia, Mongolia, and South Africa, as well as the girls category.
Masaiti said Besa’s success story in chess was one worth celebrating and emulating and therefore, the tournament was to able women and girl to actively engage in sport and grow their reputation.
“As a girl child, her achievements are an inspiration to other girls,” said Masaiti.
Masaiti said the tournament would act as a reminder to the young girl that she was capable, well equipped and able to achieve and stand on their own like their male counterpart.
Besa (21), Women Fide Master (WFM) is one of the country’s top achievers at BGCSE and is currently based in the USA studying for a Master of Science Degree (Financial Engineering) at Lehigh University.
She previously graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with minors in Mathematics and actual Science Degree from Texas Tech University and is the first ever chess player to be awarded the Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) Elite Scholarship in 2020.
Besa attained her Women Candidate Master (WCM) in 2016, later accomplishing her WFM in 2017. Her sporting ambition is to attain a Grand Master title and make a fundamental difference in people’s lives through chess.
The youngster has overcome her childhood hardships to become the country’s promising and best chess player while equally writing a new chapter through academic excellence.
Some of her past achievements in the sport was a silver medal at the Africa Junior Online Chess Championship in 2021, qualified for the 2022 Chennai World Chess Olympiad as well as being the only woman on a 2GM and IM led team and finishing 14th at the Pan American Intercollegiate Championships.
In 2018, she won gold at the National Re Ba Bona Ha chess tournament and another gold medal in the Africa Schools Chess in Limpopo, South Africa as well as a 2017 bronze medal at the Africa Youth Chess in Lusaka, Zambia.
Following the COVID-19, the girl child was the most affected by social ills, therefore it will take efforts of individuals such as Besa who has through sport, managed to stand on her feet, to guide and motivate young girls to take advantage of the power possessed in sports and change their lives.
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