RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca­s­ookraj@guardian.co.tt

As the San Fer­nan­do TML Pri­ma­ry School tri­umphed at the An­nu­al Jum­bo Pri­ma­ry Schools Chess Tour­na­ment 2025, calls have been made for the gov­ern­ment to sup­port chess de­vel­op­ment so that more chil­dren could get in­volved in the sport.

As the school’s Chess Stars lift­ed the Gold­en Tro­phy, the pres­i­dent of the TML Pri­ma­ry School, San Fer­nan­do Chess Club, Shal­iza Ho­sein-Ma­haraj, urged the gov­ern­ment to spon­sor more stu­dents to get in­volved in Chess, say­ing it as­sists not on­ly with aca­d­e­mics but al­so with men­tal health.

She ex­plained that the game helps chil­dren man­age stress, build fo­cus and de­vel­op habits that sup­port learn­ing and emo­tion­al well­be­ing.

Ma­haraj said chess of­fers a struc­tured space where chil­dren learn to think, pause and re­flect be­fore act­ing.

Say­ing the ben­e­fits of chess ex­tend far be­yond tro­phies, Ma­haraj ex­plained that she has seen clear changes in how stu­dents ap­proach school­work, par­tic­u­lar­ly in math­e­mat­ics and sci­ence.

“They think more care­ful­ly about ques­tions and un­der­stand that every move has con­se­quences,” she said. “They learn that de­ci­sions bring re­sults, and some­times you have to deal with the out­come. That les­son stays with them.”

Ac­cord­ing to Ho­sein-Ma­haraj, chess helps stu­dents de­vel­op dis­ci­pline, time man­age­ment and pa­tience. These skills, she not­ed, of­ten show up in the class­room, es­pe­cial­ly when stu­dents are faced with prob­lem-solv­ing tasks.

She said prepa­ra­tion for tour­na­ments fo­cus­es less on rush­ing to win and more on think­ing through each move.

“Play­ers are taught to take their time, as­sess dif­fer­ent out­comes and re­main calm un­der pres­sure,” she ex­plained. Ho­sein-Ma­haraj said this ap­proach helps stu­dents re­sist im­pul­sive de­ci­sions, both on the board and in their dai­ly lives.

Mean­while, school prin­ci­pal Wahi­da Mo­hammed-Nar­ine said the school emerged first among 60 com­pet­ing teams at the tour­na­ment. She said this was the re­sult of steady prepa­ra­tion, fam­i­ly sup­port and con­sis­tent men­tor­ship.

Quot­ing philoso­pher Blaise Pas­cal, Nar­ine de­scribed chess as “the gym­na­si­um of the mind,” not­ing that it trains the brain in much the same way phys­i­cal ex­er­cise trains the body. She said the game strength­ens rea­son­ing, mem­o­ry, con­cen­tra­tion and plan­ning, skills that are im­por­tant both in school and lat­er in life.

Mo­hammed-Nar­ine em­pha­sised that chess helps stu­dents de­vel­op con­fi­dence and self-con­trol, qual­i­ties she be­lieves are es­sen­tial for nav­i­gat­ing aca­d­e­m­ic and per­son­al chal­lenges. She al­so ac­knowl­edged the role of par­ents, school staff and men­tors in sus­tain­ing the pro­gramme.

She gave spe­cial recog­ni­tion to train­er Adri­an Win­ter Atwell, the ex­ec­u­tive of the San Fer­nan­do TML Chess Stars, and staff rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ab­dur Ra­heem Mo­hammed.

Mean­while, Mo­hammed com­mend­ed the stu­dents as well as the Jum­bo Chess Acad­e­my for cre­at­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties for young play­ers across the coun­try.

He said their goal was not on­ly to pro­duce win­ners, but to equip chil­dren with skills that help them think clear­ly, act re­spon­si­bly and man­age the pres­sures they face both in and out of the class­room.