Thursday, September 10 2009

THE Trinidad and Tobago Chess Foundation has launched their training programme, “Let’s Play Chess”, in Port-of-Spain. The eight-week training programme is staged on on Sundays from 10 am to noon starting at the National Library.

The programme offers adults and young people from the age of seven years, the opportunity to benefit from training in the sport. Commenting on the programme, Edison Raphael, President of the Chess Foundation, said, “Chess is a game which focusses on the development of critical thinking skills and cognitive ability.”

He noted that studies conducted in Belgium and Venezuela have confirmed that children who are taught chess, in addition to their courses, do better in school.

The game he added brings home “the reality that there are direct consequences to actions and emphasises the importance of logical thought and problem solving. So chess training and practice is a great way to make a child’s free time constructive.”