HARARE, Aug. 18 NewsDay Live — Minerva Risk Advisors has committed more than US$10,000 to this year’s Minerva Zimbabwe Open Chess Tournament, strengthening its partnership with the Zimbabwe Chess Federation (ZCF) as the game continues to attract corporate support.
The sixth edition of the tournament runs from Wednesday to Aug. 23 at Heritage Village in Harare and is expected to attract about 400 players from Zimbabwe and abroad.
A new feature this year is the Corporate Section, a rapid chess competition for Zimbabwean employees who can provide proof of employment. It will be held on Aug. 22 and 23.
Minerva director of marketing and healthcare Nicholas Chekera said the company’s sponsorship reflected the strategic thinking required in both chess and business.
“Chess is more than just a game in my view. It requires you to think, it requires you to be strategic, it requires you to use your brain,” Chekera said.
He said the company planned to support initiatives beyond the tournament to help grow chess in Zimbabwe.
“Our sponsorship is not just going to end here. We are actually going to look at more initiatives that we can bring, even outside this tournament, that we can bring in the country to assist the movement of chess to a greater extent in the country,” he said.
Tournament director Agab Dozva urged other companies to emulate Minerva’s support, saying the new corporate section was intended to bring businesses closer to the sport.
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“We also want corporates to take a leaf from what Minerva is doing, supporting chess,” Dozva said.
“In the grand picture of it, we have included a corporate section where they can also come through and play chess, to also support the game of chess as a strategy.”
Dozva said registrations remained strong, with local players and international federations continuing to enter the tournament.
“Last year we had close to 400 people coming through to play and registrations are still coming in, especially from the federations from outside the country,” he said.
The tournament will feature Open A for players rated 1,900 and above, Open B for those below 1,900, a Ladies section and a Development section for boys and girls from under-8 to under-16.
The Open and Ladies sections will run for five days, while the Development section will be held from Aug. 21 to 23.
