The largest ever annual summer camp of the Grenada Chess Federation (GCF) concluded on 22 August 2025, at the Grenada Boys Secondary School (GBSS), with a closing ceremony during which participants received their Certificates of Participation.
It was the 5th of the GCF’s annual summer camps, which started in 2020, attracting participants from ages 7 and upwards, and running from 18–22 August.
Beginners were exposed to the game and its rules, and the role and significance of the various chess pieces (16), while the more advanced players were exposed to new techniques of the game, including opening and closing moves.
For the 3rd straight year, the GCF brought in International Chess Federation FIDE-trained arbiter and coach Kevin Daniel to serve as technical director of the chess camp. Daniel, a qualified teacher by profession, has well over 20 years’ experience teaching chess in Barbados and has served as Chief Arbiter at several Chess Olympiads and other international games. He is also a senior member of the Barbados Chess Federation.
Competitive Chess and Chess in Education
At the closing ceremony, GCF President Ruggles Ferguson highlighted that chess is one of the few internationally recognised games that can be played both physically and virtually, competitively, by persons as young as 3 years or as old as 103 years and beyond. He noted that the ongoing programmes of the GCF will focus both on competitive chess and “Chess in Education,” a FIDE-promoted concept that utilises chess as an educational tool to assist in the teaching of regular subjects in school, including Mathematics and English.
This year, the GCF targeted a maximum of 60 participants, but over 70 attended the camp. As part of its upcoming plans for September and October 2025, the GCF will be holding a “National Junior Chess Championship” and a “National Open Chess Championship.”
Participants in this year’s Chess Summer Camp have been identified to support GCF’s drive to establish chess clubs in schools throughout Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
