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Welcome Sudan Chess Federation President |
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Monday, 30 April 2007 00:00 |
 We welcome into the FIDE family Mr. Nadir Sameer, the new president of the Sudan Chess Federation. The young man of 32 is a FIDE Candidate Master and heads his own construction and computer companies. He has succeeded in getting Sudanese government support for chess, makes Sudan participate in all Arab Chess Federation events and is promoting chess in Sudan despite the difficult economic conditions there. We met during the Dubai Open and conducted an interview.
We welcome into the FIDE family Mr. Nadir Sameer, the new president of the Sudan Chess Federation. The young man of 32 is a FIDE Candidate Master and heads his own construction and computer companies. He has succeeded in getting Sudanese government support for chess, makes Sudan participate in all Arab Chess Federation events and is promoting chess in Sudan despite the difficult economic conditions there. We met during the Dubai Open and conducted an interview.
Q: You were elected president of the Sudan Chess Federation in September 2006. What has been your program?
A: We started by increasing the visibility of chess in Sudan. The problem is that much of the government funding goes to football and basketball. We had to show the government that chess is a popular sport. So we began by promoting chess among the youth and held tournaments in schools and universities.
We translated the book on Learning Chess to Arabic in order to create new players.
Then we organized club tournaments to show our government that chess is played by many in Sudan.
And not only in Khartoum, but in the 25 federations around the country, chess is played in the various sports clubs around Sudan.
To develop organizers, we are inviting Arab Chess Federation Technical Secretary Abdulrahim Mahdi to conduct an Arbiters Training Seminar from 23 to 30 June in Sudan.
Now we have some 300 registered players in Khartoum alone and we have asked all sports clubs nationwide to register their chess players. We will set our targets and we hope to have a master within a year or two.
We participate in all Arab competitions and in most African events such as the individual championship in Algeria. Because we brought chess to the attention of our government, we have managed to secure government funding for official competitions abroad.
We have 16 FIDE rated players and are conducting more rated tournaments in Sudan. Our best achievement abroad was a Board 5 medal in the Arab Clubs. In the Torino Open, Moawia Ahmed Holi Ali won the gold medal in Group B for unrated players - our first victory outside Sudan. He is now rated and is a Candidate Master. |
