GRIT Chess Community Centre is a registered non-profit organization that focuses on chess development on all levels in Namibia. GRIT aims to establish an environment that cultivates, enables, and creates opportunities for the young and old ranging from ages 6 years and above to develop chess skills through structured coaching sessions, local and southern African tournaments, camps, and tours. The
development initiatives also aim to enhance skills of officials through the facilitation of arbiter training and to provide a level of support to the community through the establishment of its player support program. Chess has been proven to increase your IQ, improve memory function, help develop higher levels of creativity and simultaneously exercises both sides of the brain. Research has also indicated that chess can help in preventing Alzheimer's and dementia and can increase a child's problem-solving skills. GRIT believes that introducing a child to chess allows the child to recognize complexity at a very young age and has also been proven to help enhance a child’s mathematical as well as analytical capabilities. Children who play chess can solve mathematical problems mentally instead of using a calculator to do so. Namibia, like many developing countries, faces challenges in providing quality education and extracurricular activities for its youth, particularly in rural and marginalized areas. There is a need to introduce innovative methods to stimulate the cognitive and intellectual growth of our young population. By providing access to chess education and training, GRIT aims to cultivate a lifelong passion for learning and personal development among the youth of Namibia. GRIT has designed a comprehensive program to introduce and teach chess to young and old in Namibia. Our initiatives include:
Chess club establishment: providing structed coaching sessions to the community to ensure effective chess development is cultivated and instilled at a young age, starting with the beginners to intermediate to advanced level of chess knowledge. As the skills and level of expertise rises, students will be exposed to various topics about chess psychology, physiology, and online chess platforms. Hosting of local and SADC tournaments and camps: Hosting of chess tournament and camps on a regular basis will aim at creating various platforms and opportunities for all ages to showcase their skills and ability to compete with their peers on a local and SADC level and at the same time creating exposure to learning and development opportunities. Official Support Program: GRIT aims at hosting arbiter training programs, to elevate and develop chess locally, by establish platforms that will further equip and train local arbiter through FIDE certified programs which will contribute the groundwork of cultivating a sound and firm chess community. Player support program: The support program aims to achieve short-, medium- and long-term goals, which will focus on supporting chess players through numerous initiatives ranging from, but not limited to; financial subsidizing of participation on chess lessons, tournament and camp level, to full/partial scholarships etc.
