Lighthouse Chess Club directors Dr. Philip Mwashe and Ms. Judith Kiragu last week paid a courtesy call on the Principal Secretary of Education Professor Japheth Ntiba. This was to introduce him to chess and make the case for chess to be introduced to schools and universities.
The benefits of chess are collaboration and communication when players meet in tournaments. Chess also improves critical thinking, problem solving, imagination, creativity and memory. These closely mirror the core competencies required for learners as set out by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.
Lighthouse Chess Club also presented a proposal for research that they plan to conduct. This would be carried out in schools to demonstrate that chess improves performance in Maths and English.
Professor Ntiba was very pleased with the plans and pledged to support the initiative. After the meeting the directors showed him a few of the rules of chess.
Lighthouse Chess Club is based in Mombasa but host events all over the country. They will be hosting the Machakos Open Chess Tournament on the weekend of May 5th 2017.
Registration is ongoing at www.lighthousechessclub.com
Lighthouse Chess Club is based in Mombasa and was set up with the sole vision of producing a Chess Grandmaster in Kenya. They aim to achieve this through organising tournaments and through supporting Chess Kenya with their Chess In Schools program.