An 8-year old Ghanaian boy in class 3 pupil at the Jack and Jill School in Roman Ridge, Dave Chief Quansah Acheampong, has won the best 2020 Africa schools Under 9 Chess Championship Competition recently held online.
The five-day tournament organized by the African Chess Confederation involved 105 players from Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, South Africa, Egypt, Angola, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Morocco.
Different age categories that took part in the competition are 9, 11,13, 15, and 17 years. This is the first time a Ghanaian chess player has won the African Chess Confederation contest hosted online as a result of the COVID-19.
During the contest, the boy started the tournament with a win in the 1st round but suffered 3 losses in the subsequent rounds
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But, despite his losses, he came back stronger in the 5th round and finished with a 6 point win out of the 9 points at stake to grasp the lead ahead of top favorites including Mohammed Hossan Adham of Egypt and Ranveer Tak of South Africa.
For his prize, he was awarded a certificate and a roundtrip economy class air ticket by the Confederation to represent Africa in the World Schools Individual Chess Championships to be held in Greece at Halkidiki on May 11, 2021.
Father of the boy, David Acheampong, who was very excited explained that Dave was introduced to chess at the age of 4 and that he has since shown love for the game.
“It came as a surprise to many in the Ghana Chess Association although Dave is believed to be a promising and talented young player” he noted.
He described his son as an asset, noting though that, he has won other local competitions aside this glorious Africa Under 9 Chess Championship.
Mr Acheampong, the founder of Mentors Chess Academy, further expressed optimism and hope for his son’s achievement, adding that, ” this would inspire other children to take interest in learning chess as it helps enhance problem-solving and analytical skills”.
“The boy wants to be a chess grandmaster in the near future. It has become imperative for a young prodigy to maintain his consistency in his chess hobby and therefore, will need all the support going forward,” he said.
According to Mr. Acheampong, for his son to become a grandmaster, he needs to travel around the world and play a number of high-profile tournaments, get grandmaster training among others.
He has, therefore, appealed to private and corporate organizations for sponsorships in the area of chess to cater for all the clever players like Dave in order to enable them to achieve
By Eric Nii Sackey