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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
THE National University of Science and Technology is hosting the chess candidates tournament which began on Saturday.

The three-day event will see participants from all over the country compete for the ticket to contest in the national senior chess championship.

The tournament is played every year and this is the first time that it is played outside Harare.

The competition is internationally rated by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) therefore the participants will get a rating from the chess governing body.

“This is quite a huge event that we have never hosted before and it means a lot as far as chess in Zimbabwe is concerned,” said Zimbabwe Chess Federation Bulawayo province chairperson, Elvis Shora.

In terms of participation, there are three categories: the open section, ladies’ section and scholars’ section.

The open and ladies’ sections are FIDE rated. The ladies’ section is meant to try and encourage women to play chess, a sport dominated by men.

A total of 80 players turned out for the open section, with only one lady participating and in the ladies’ section 30 participants registered.

The scholars’ section, which is also known as the development section, had 22 players but is unrated.

“We are also happy with the turnout, since it’s the first time we were thinking maybe there will be a low turnout but it’s something impressive,” Shora added.

The chairperson also stated that having such a tournament in Bulawayo is good for the development of the game and it gives a lot of players the chance to go for the nationals.

The tournament has nine rounds and for each and every round one plays, a win is one point, draw is half and a defeat is zero.

At the end there will be a ranking and the one with the most points wins the event.