Federation chairman accepts donation from chess enthusiast Robin Bonne |30 June 2023
The donation ceremony (Photo: Neil Sirame)
The Seychelles Chess Federation has received 100 chess boards from Robin Bonne, the ambassador for Seychelles of the ‘Gift of Chess’ association in a small ceremony on Wednesday afternoon at the St Louis community centre.
Present were elected member of the National Assembly for the St Louis district Sathya Naidu, Seychelles Chess Federation (SCF) chairman Benjamin Hoareau and some chess players.
In an effort to kick-start chess here, the donation of chess boards will serve the federation a great deal when hosting competitions and also to be used as prizes, said SCF chairman Hoareau in his address.
He added that chess is a tool which can help a young individual academically and on behalf of the chess federation they are very grateful of this generous gesture.
“This is just a continuation of the hard work the chess federation is doing to develop the discipline in Seychelles and Mr Bonne is helping us through the ‘Gift of Chess’ association to benefit not just us but the whole country,” said Mr Hoareau.
Talking to Sports NATION, chess president Hoareau expressed his gratitude towards Mr Bonne and the American group known as ‘Gift of chess’ for helping them.
Local chess player and enthusiast Robin Bonne came in contact with the group recently, while competing at the Kenya Open Chess Championship held between April 6 and 10 at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, which gathered over 400 players from 20 federations. Bonne took the opportunity to help the chess federation of Seychelles by asking for aid from the group and in response he was given 1,000 chess sets to promote and distribute in the country.
During the ceremony, Mr Bonne expressed his gratitude to the ‘Gif of Chess’ group for the donation.
Mr Bonne revealed to Sports NATION that he is saddened that the local authorities show little interest in our initiatives without realising how chess contributes in the academic growth of many students in the country. He added that he is an ambassador for Seychelles to the ‘Gift of Chess’ group and that they will monitor the progress of the chess federation following this donation, to possibly host a tournament between the two sides.
“I feel very proud to help in any way I can, but the local authorities should wake up and be more supportive,” said Mr Bonne.
Speaking to Sports NATION, MNA Naidu said the number of chess players has reduced compared to previous years, added that it is a perfect opportunity after the pandemic to re-launch chess on a national level.
“With this donation it provides them with the necessary resources to be able to accelerate their efforts in achieving their objective as a federation, which is to develop chess and engage more participants in the country,” said Mr Naidu.
As a gift from the federation, Mr Naidu was given chess board for his personal use.
To conclude, Mr Naidu added that chess stimulates the state of mind of a student or an individual by acquiring strategic and decision-making skills which will provide them the tools to move forward in life.
Neil Sirame