International Chess Day: helping pupils develop their decision-making capacity

As the world celebrates International Chess Day on Thursday, Blue-O Community Development, a Gauteng-based NGO, is hosting dozens of pupils to commemorate the day. 

July 20 has been recognised as International Chess Day across the globe annually since 1966. Regardless of its competitive nature, the game can help players in decision-making, respecting opponents and resilience. 

On Thursday, 30 chess enthusiasts from the Blue-O Chess Club, ranging from the ages of seven to 18 years old, battled it out amongst themselves with primary school pupils taking on their counterparts in high schools. 

“Usually, the younger ones become anxious to play against the high school kids because they feel like they are beginners, so it will be the right time to challenge them and make them face their fear of being scared,” said programme director and chess mentor Bafana Binda. 

“I am trying to change that mentality because in external tournaments, you find 10-year-olds can play against people way older than them and some of them still win because they are good at it,” he said.

The event was hosted at the NGO’s premises in Olievenhoutbosch near Pretoria,

He said he and his colleagues had dedicated their time as volunteers at the organisation to teach chess in the hope of enhancing the thinking skills of pupils. 

Binda said he learnt chess in 2017 after he was tasked with coming up with suitable activities at the NGO.  

“There was football, netball and other sporting activities, so I thought of chess and started following people who play the game, learning to play online and reading up on it and doing my own research. I learned so I could explain it better to the kids. I explain the method and the pieces to the children while my colleagues teach them the rest.”

“Ever since I started mentoring the kids closely I have noticed they have started putting a lot of thought into most of the things they do because with every piece you move, you must think long and hard first. It becomes easy for them to apply their mind when it comes to life lessons.” 

The Blue-O organisation has called up other chess clubs around the area to host local tournaments occasionally.  

“Now, we pace our team’s ability through calling up other teams to compete with us so they can see different perspectives apart from just learning from us. I have picked up that children learn quickly when they are younger, so it’s best to start as soon as possible,” said Binda. 

He said the biggest challenge has been obtaining sponsorships to compete on other levels besides locally.  

Here are a few ways you can celebrate this day: 

• Challenge a friend in a game of chess 

• Teach someone how to play chess 

• Play with someone online 

• Participate in a chess tournament if possible