Festival of the Girl

Getting more girls playing chess has always been a key part of CSC’s mission. It’s one of the reasons we try to put chess on the school timetable, so that every child learns the game rather than just those whose parents sign them up for chess club. We hold girls-only tournaments and are very fortunate that the world’s youngest ever Woman’s Grandmaster, Bodhana Sivanandan regularly attends our events and is such a great role-model to even younger visitors.

We were therefore delighted when we were invited to run some chess activities at the Festival of the Girl, an organisation with the aim of building confidence early, breaking gender stereotypes, and inspiring a generation of girls to realise their full potential as future changemakers. Their latest event was held at the Business Design Centre in Islington and included sports activities, STEM subjects, and physical and mental health workshops. CSC tutors Abi Ford and Zan Choudhury joined our Regional Organiser for North London, Ivana Tomasevic, in running coaching sessions for the visitors, introducing many new players to the game over a very enjoyable weekend. As ever, a giant set proved a huge draw, and a few chess goodies ensured that everyone left happy, whatever the result on the chessboard.

Our huge thanks to the Festival of the Girl for their hard work in putting on such a great event and to Ivana and her team for their help in adding to the growing number of female chess fans.