Child Focus holds chess tournament

Twenty-four young Sabans participated in a chess tournament Sunday, at Child Focus in Windwardside. They were divided into senior and junior divisions. This reports The Daily Herald. The senior division was won by Kyle Buchanan (13) with Jake Jansen and Daniel Barnes coming in second and third. The winners of junior division were Sebastian Alkema, followed by number two Edward Zagers and Armand Khan in third place. All players were treated to pizza and received a certificate of achievement. The tournament was for ages seven and up and set up in double elimination brackets to allow everyone to play at least two games.

First place winners received Satel NV gift certificates of US $75; second place winners received $20 gift certificate from Everything’s Gift Store, and third place winners received a gift bag of school supplies. The organisers expressed their thanks to the local businesses for contributing these prizes.

Parents and teachers came out to show their support for the tournament, which started at 3:00pm and ended at 8:00pm, when the last game between Alkema and Zagers finally came to a close.

Chess club instructors Peter Johnson and Andrew Boileau were present during the tournament. The Child Focus chess club is open every Friday, 3:00-5:00pm. Boileau is an associate professor and course director of neuroscience at Saba University School of Medicine. He was pleased to see such great interest by the local community shown in this tournament. “It’s especially great that so many girls showed up,” Boileau said in encouraging more girls to join the chess club, which started in September 2014.

Child Focus project leader Stacey Simmons said it was their goal to organise two chess tournaments a year. “Chess increases your memory, your concentration level and it makes you more analytical. This is very important in the development and education of a child.”