PM Champions Chess to Instil Crucial Life Skills in Jamaican Youth

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, is championing chess as a transformative tool for Jamaican youth, noting that it instils foundational principles for long-term success.

“Chess teaches us integrity and honesty. There is no cheating in chess. It is a sport of the highest integrity. This sport is about building the character of our young people,” he said.

Dr. Holness was addressing the inaugural ‘Chess in the City’ competition held on Saturday (October 3) at the Jamaica College Auditorium in Kingston.

Conceptualised by the Prime Minister, the event brought together more than 150 young people at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels across the Corporate Area to match skills and intellect as they competed for attractive prize, including cash and laptops.

Prime Minister Holness, in his address to the competitors, said that the game of chess is more than just a game, noting that it teaches responsibility, discipline, strategic thinking, and the importance of long-term planning.

“Chess teaches one important thing, and that is to think before you move. It also teaches that there are consequences for actions because once you touch that piece and you move it, you are committed to it. If we take those two fundamental principles of chess and we apply them to our lives, we can say… actions have consequences and once that becomes part of your life as young people then you are almost guaranteed to be more responsible in your social actions and activities,” he said.

Dr. Holness noted that the game also teaches patience.

“Chess teaches you to delay gratification. The first and most obvious move is not always the best move… . It forces you to think of other moves way ahead – three, four, five, 10 moves ahead. That builds in you strategic thinking and if you want to be successful in life, you can’t always just take what is in front of you. You have to defer the gratification, and you have to think in advance how you plan your life, how you order your steps. If you apply that principle to your lives as young people you will more than likely be very successful in your lives,” he pointed out.

The Prime Minister said he was pleased with the turnout for the inaugural competition, noting that the aim is to facilitate more opportunities for young people to be involved in competitive activities that challenge their intellectual faculties.

He said that organisers are looking to make it an annual event and to expand the tournament across the island.

“We may change it a little and we may make it ‘Chess in the Park’, moving it out of an auditorium and maybe to Emancipation Park. We are also considering having Chess in the West. We are going to be moving [it] to Montego Bay, our Second City, where we will have a similar competition and, indeed, we will seek to move this right across Jamaica in all our parks that we are now building. The idea is not just to popularise chess; the idea is to give our young people more alternatives to participate in competitive events,” he pointed out.