BELIZE PRIMARY SCHOOL CHESS TOURNAMENTS

Belize National Chess Tournament
St. Barnabas Primary School chess club.
SANTA ELENA TOWN AGUADA HOTEL HOSTS PRIMARY SCHOOL CHESS TOURNAMENT

The Chess Tournament had two aims. The first to select the 12 best chess players at the Primary School level ( Grades 1 -8, or to Standard 6 in our local educational system ). These 12 players would enter our Western Recreational Area District competition and also to introduce our new beginners in CHESS, to the experience of TIMED tournament match playing. The idea is to have a lot of FUN, but also socialize with children from schools in other areas of our Western District of the Nation of Belize. We have many different ethnic groups in our part of the country. Our area is growing rapidly with both local and foreign immigration into the area.
The International program “SWISS” was used to decide the pairings of players. The program is used internationally and gives a ranking to the players. There were 45 students competing, ages from 5 to 16 years. One interesting thing to learn is that after the first THREE moves by each chess player, there are 119, 060, 679 million possible moves left in the game.
Time clocks were used for the competition play. FIRST PLACE was Eric Lee from St. Andrews Primary school. SECOND PLACE was Anthony Hulse, also from St. Andrews Primary School. THIRD PLACE was won by Tishay Nunez from Bishop O.). Martin Prmary. Most schools in Belize are run by human organized religions and subsidized about 80% by the Government. Religious schools are a big business in Belize. Anybody can start a school.
12 year and over competition had FIRST PLACE by Jamie McKoy, from St. Barnabas Anglican primary, SECOND PLACE was won by Kevin Medrano and THIRD PLACE was won by Anika Martinez both from Ontario Christian School. You don’t have to belong to the religion of a school to attend and nobody counts the majority MAYA students, who attend a medly of religious schools present in the Cayo District. The Maya have a spiritual belief system, with a Pantheon of Gods; that is not coordinated like man made religious organizations, brought here by invaders from North America and Europe.
The ADVANCED CHESS PLAYERS 12 years and over, FIRST PLACE was won by Gareth Martinez from St. Barnabas Anglican primary, SECOND PLACE was won by Vidal Adolphus from St. Andrews Anglican primary and THIRD PLACE was won by Cesar Gonzalez from St. Barnabas primary.
Mr. William Butcher, normally called “BILL” was thanked for hosting the CHESS TOURNAMENT at the AGUADA HOTEL in Santa Elena Town.
We thank the STAR newspaper for the information and David Coombs the Chess Coordinator.