Overview — Chess 4 Hope

Schools in the townships located in the greater Cape Town metropolitan area are affected by many challenges such as: Drug abuse, low pass rates, gang pressures and few extra curricular activities.

In early 2007, Zach Schonberger, a dedicated volunteer at Ikamva Labantu, decided to address the problems found in the township schools by initiating a chess programme with an aim to introduce children from disadvantaged communities to the game of chess. The idea was to use chess as a vehicle for social and personal change, inspired by a chess programme in the Bronx of New York.

Chess 4 Hope started as a pilot programme in Gugulethu. Thirty learners from Lwazi Primary School and thirty learners from Xolani Primary School received four hours of chess tuition per week as part of an extra-curricular programme. Under the expert tutelage of Walter July, the children flourished both on the board and in the classroom. Teachers reported behavioural improvements, enhanced concentration levels and improved test results- success that prompted the schools to adopt chess into their mainstream curriculum for 2008. During the course of 2008, Observatory Primary, Lwazi Primary and Xolani primary School invited Ikamva Labantu to implement the chess programme in the schools. From its inception to date, Ikamva Labantu’s chess programme has sharply grown starting with 60, and currently reaching 790 learners.