Good news for chess lovers in Thimphu. There’s a new chess club in town and anyone can walk in and become a member. After almost eight years of dormancy, the Chess Federation has now been revived as the Bhutan Chess Club with the aim to popularise the almost forgotten sport.
The Bhutan Chess Club currently has around 30 members who regularly visit its centre at Changangkha. It also has over a hundred online members from across the country.
The Bhutan Chess Federation was initially established in 2004 and was functional until 2013. After that, it became inactive for the last eight years.
Ugyen Wangchuk, The general secretary of the club says it was mainly due to a lack of sufficient equipment and professional trainers
Playing chess enhances creative thinking, planning skills, concentration and helps develop a child’s cognitive abilities. The General Secretary said despite such benefits, there is limited awareness among Bhutanese youth about the sport. To promote the game, the club has plans to collaborate with schools and relevant institutions.
“The first plan is we are going to get some equipment, the second could be, we will be trying to pull players together and train them as training of trainers that way we are going to develop our manpower. Thirdly we will be identifying the centres. We will identify few centres in collaborating with the schools so that they can come forward and we will start the programme with them,” he added.
The club also has plans to open chess centres in different locations in Thimphu such as at bus stops and taxi stands. The club is also planning to hold an online chess competition which is expected to begin in the coming days.
Choni Dema
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
