As the doors swung open wide, the Great Medieval Hall presented itself to the children, including a 36 foot wide by 14 foot high castle front, 8 foot chess banners and colorful flags strewn around the Hall. As each team entered the great hall they were presented with their own colorful 8 foot high team banner to carry out in front of each team as they marched down the centre isle to the marching sounds of “We Will Rock You” by the band ‘Queen’ and escorted by fully dressed knights...
... to present themselves to the King and Queen of the Belize Chess Kingdom who in turn presented each player with a chess medallion as a welcome gift to the competition. For over 20 minutes, the applauding of the spectators, music and drumming continued as each team, one after another, entered the Great Hall.
OF course, the participants had no idea what it takes to create an event like this, but their joy, their excitement made all those efforts worth for us. So who are the people who made it happen?
The Chess Olympiad itself took over 700 man hours of volunteer service to prepare and run the event. But its volunteers like the entire staff of the Caves Branch Jungle Lodge who spent two months preparing for the event, community volunteers who assisted in the set up and running of the event, local business persons who donated products for the event, BDF who provided tents and chairs, the list is endless of the total number of people who assisted in the success of the event. See below our accounting, marketing, reservations staff working on creating outfits, 
..guides, using their climbing skills to hang the banners...
and make it look like this:
Interest in participation was so high from all the districts that we had to limit each school to bring only 4 kids per team. As the result we had 36 teams from all over the country, total 144 primary students competing in this first BELIZE CHESS OLYMPIAD.
10 teams from
9 teams from Stann Creek
7 teams from Corozal + 1 kid from Orange Walk
5 teams from Cayo
3 teams from
1 Girls only team: players from Cayo and
As you can imagine this event was made possbile by the combined effort of all the volunteers, coaches, BDF, students. To show you how truly nation wide those efforts were, take a look at the Tournament Directors List:
Sgt Artemio Sho, Col Omar Pulido – BDF
Bruno Kuppinger, Michael Manley - Toledo
Emil Arguelles, Carlo Arguelles- Belize
Adilson Rosales, Waine Huang – Cayo
Arturo and Emil Montero- Stann Creek
Computer Tournament Directors:
Building, installation, supporting team:
UB Volunteers: Abel Henriquez, Steven Sho,
Business Support: Cardinals Belmopan, Belize Mills, Brodies, Bowen & Bowen, Evan Casey, Toucan Industries, Old Belize, BDF, Wood Depot Belmpan, Abe Dyck, Caribbean Chicken and UB.
Financial Supporters: Ms. Steffi Lupp, Providence Bank, Caves Branch Jungle lodge staff donations.
Puzzles
Overall 2nd place:
Overall 3rd place: Edwardo Chen,
Sportsmanship
Section 10 and under: Alyssa Wong, St. Joseph,
Section 11: Akeem Jenkins, United Evergreen, Cayo, Coach: Ella Anderson
Section 12: Vidal Adolphus,
Section 13 and older: Gilbert Parham, Holy Angels, Stann Creek, Coaches: Cornelius Caetano and Brian Chun
2nd place team: 3rd place team:
Best Female players
Section 10 and under: Ashley Jeffries, Christ the King, Stann Creek
Section 11: Gabriela Ugarte,
Section 12: Betty Bull, played for Super Queens Team( combines Cayo and
Section 13 and older: Colleen Tate, Sacred Heart, Stann Creek
Individual winners
10 and under:
1st place: Luis Acosta,
2nd place: Sahjir Pech, Corozal Knights, Corozal
3rd place: Dominic O’Brian, St. Barnabas Anglican, Cayo
11:
1st place: Kris Sanchez, Holy Angels, Stann Creek
2nd place: Jamil Coleman, Little Flower,
3rd place: Deraun Hererra, Christ the King Anglican, Stann Creek
12:
1st place: Ishim Gavino, San Francisco de Geronimo,
2nd place: Manuel Choc, Inidan Creek,
3rd place: Betty Bull, played for Super Queens team (combined girls from
13 and older:
1st place: Rick Pascascio, Holy Angels, Stann Creek
2nd place: Benedicto Coc, played for Corozal Knights Team, but he is from San Francisco de Geronimo,
3rd place: Colleen Tate, Sacred Heart, Stann Creek
For kids: Prizes included medals, trophies and invitations to Sibun Chess Camp, Aug 1-5th, for all individual winners and 4 winning teams and their coaches.
Recognition is always so important, not only with the children, but also how to recognize adults in an all children organization, in a way that will be meaningful to the adults as well as understood by the children. So with the theme of the day being medieval chess, all the coaches were called up to the stage centre and King Arnold, with the coaches on one knee and a sword in hand, tapped them on the shoulder, “Knighted” all the coaches. With a “gold guilded” Knights medal and a certificate with the Kings signature, all 42 coaches were now “SIR” Chess Coach.
These coaches of the attending teams are: David Martinez, Ariadne Pech, David Coombs, Ricardo Bailey, Frank Tu, Richard Beane, Raymur Ake, Gilberto Perez, Rosana Ake, Nelvio Ek, Virgilio Ruiz, Yadira Montejo, Yahayra Coba, Albert Nunez, Cornelius Cayetano, Brian Chun, Kelvin Baizer, Mikhail Cabral, Kimberly Thompson, Lenox Flores, Micah Williams, Mr. Mariano, Todd Murdock, Roberto Coc, Ericka Jang, Benjamin Tuario, Desiderius Bol, Domingo Salam, Elra Alvarez, Artemon Sho, Gilberto Pop, Jose Teul, Liz Ferris, Carmelo Perez, Rob Magee, Rigoberto Choco, Rodolfo Shal
Stann Creek and 
- to provide the opportunity for the primary school students to meet players from all districts and realize that they are now part of the truly National “Chess Family”
- bring more public awareness to the fact that chess is an excellent motivational tool that helps to engage children in meaningful and intellectually stimulating activity that provides them with skills that will make them better students, socially and academically
- acknowledge and reward school teachers and community members who volunteer their time to learn the game, organize and run the after school clubs
- give recognition to the district sports coordinators who actively embraced chess as one of the sports activities
- provide opportunities for coaches from remote villages of the country to meet other coaches and learn from each other
- encourage all the participating volunteers to continue their work through the remainder of the school year and through the summer and get the kids off the streets!
What the coaches think.....
“This was a tremendous experience for all of us. We teach the children that if you don’t win a game, you are not a loser, but you learn and would hope that in all aspects and all walks of life we would be taught that way.”
I was also very impressed with how ALL the kids acted when I was there. It is very evident that chess does instill values in the players.
1) what was the most exciting part of the event for you?
The award ceremony was the best part because we got to see the best chess players and got to see amazing awards.
The most exciting part for me was the challenges that I faced during the Olympiad.
My most exciting part in the event was playing new players and taking part in the
The most exciting part of the event form is meet other people and play different people.
I really enjoyed having our Team Name be announced in front of the audience. Also me and my team walking down the great hall and meeting the “King” and the “Queen”. I really like these things besides of course playing CHESS!!!!
2) How do you feel when you win a chess game?
I feel relaxed and like a champion. I feel good in a way that I am the best.
I felt like a champion with a crown, a throne, a cape, a kingdom. I felt like King for that game.
3) How do you feel when you lose a game?
I feel sad, but I learn from my mistakes.
I still feel good because at least I tired to win plus I faced a worthy opponent. I feel revived , and I know that even though I lost this one, I might win the next one.
