Z-Corp, Oman Chess Committee host chess camps

MUSCAT: Oman Chess Committee (OCC), in collaboration with The Zubair Corporation (Z-Corp), organised chess tournaments and training camps in Suhar, Ibri, Nizwa and Muscat.

Z-Corp had signed a sponsorship agreement with OCC in 2017 to support the activities of OCC to enable it to spread the popularity of the chess among people especially youth. As part of this collaboration, Z-Corp established centres in Suhar, Ibri, Nizwa and Muscat to popularise the mind sport.

The chess tournaments and training camps were designed to help young players to enhance their game standards and skills. It also comes as part of Z-Corp’s commitment to encourage Omani youth to train, participate, qualify and represent the Sultanate in international competitions.

The Z-Corp chess centres have seen a huge response from people of all age groups to learn chess and participate in tournaments across different governorates.

Ibrahim al Salmi, Assistant General Manager, Corporate Communications, The Zubair Corporation ,said, “Z-Corp believes that supporting such training programmes will help young Omani children to improve their analytical thinking skills and memory retention. We are pleased with the response from the participants and players in all the governorates. We are keen on backing OCC’s mission to promote chess as we have noticed that chess is becoming increasingly popular in Oman. This indicates that our effort to popularise the game is bearing fruit.” He added, “We laud the efforts of Omani Chess Committee in training the various age groups of players and are pleased to witness the participation of players from Oman in various international competitions.”

As a policy, Z-Corp is keen on supporting talented sportspersons, teams and associations regardless of the sporting discipline. The agreement between Z-Corp and OCC was enabled by Oman Olympic Committee as part of their plans to assist sports associations and athletes to get the support of the private sector companies.

Adnan al Jahwari, chess trainer, thanked Z-Corp for its generous and continuous support to the Omani Chess Committee. He added that the Zubair chess centres have achieved positive results and will continue to play their positive roles. Coaches Bashir al Kademi, Adnan al Jahwari, Sultan al Harazi and Hamdan al Hinai participated in the tournament.

The Zubair chess tournament has helped accomplish the goal of increasing the number of chess enthusiasts across Oman. The three centres that were established achieved the objectives of the OCC to increase the number of camps organised and hold more competitions among different age groups.