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Allen Khumalo, Sports Reporter
THE African Chess Confederation has offered Zimbabwe the right to host the 2017 African Schools Chess Championships tournament in August.

The offer comes following a National Association of Secondary School Heads (Nash) National Chess Championships held in Marondera at the weekend.

Nash national head-in-charge of chess Idah Moyo said they had already started engaging with relevant authorities regarding the offer.

“This is a big step for us and we are glad our country has attracted interest from the continental body. The main challenge now is financing of the competition; we need sponsors to chip in. We don’t want a situation where we let this opportunity slip away after Zimbabwe failed to compete in last year’s tournament held in Zambia due to financial constraints,” said Moyo.

The African Schools Chess Championships are a developmental continental youth tournament for players under the age of 17 years comprising Under-7s, Under-9s, Under-11s, Under-13s, Under-15s and Under-17s.

The event is a World Chess Federation and African Chess Confederation initiative aimed at aiding the African national federations’ grassroots development efforts through high profile tournament play, coaching and exposure.

Winners of each age group category will get the right to participate in the 2017 World Schools’ Individual Chess.

Meanwhile, Mashonaland West province were crowned the 2017 Nash National Chess champions after scooping three gold medals, three silver and one bronze. They were followed by Harare with three gold, two silver and three bronze.

Mashonaland Central came third with two gold and three silver medals. Matabeleland North were fourth with two gold and two silver medals, while Mashonaland East had one gold, two silver and three bronze.

Bulawayo were sixth with one gold and four bronze medals. Matabeleland South just managed one gold medal.

“The competition was full of surprises, with Matabeleland North province, who came last in 2016, coming fourth this year, leapfrogging teams like Bulawayo and Manicaland. This shows the improvement of players in rural set-ups,” said Moyo.

Medals table

Gold     Silver     Bronze
Mashonaland West           3     3        1
Harare                                 3     2        3
Mashonaland Central      2     3         0
Matabeleland North        2     2         0
Mashonaland East           1      2         3
Bulawayo                           1      0         4
Masvingo                          1      0          0
Matabeleland South      1       0          0
Midlands                         0      1            2
Manicaland                    0       1            1

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