Leemisa Thuseho
MABOLOKO Leboela and Naleli McPherson were last week awarded Chess Development Instructors titles by FIDE.
Leboela and Naleli will join Lieketseng Ngatane to become the only three women chess instructors in Lesotho.
The duo secured the titles after passing their FIDE Trainers Seminar examinations. The seminar was held online last December but the examination results were only announced last week.
Being an instructor is adding to Leboela’s rich profile as one of Lesotho’s top female chess player. Leboela has been representing Lesotho in all the Olympiads since the country’s first appearance in 2014 in Norway
Leboela is a women candidate master (WCM) and is only Lesotho’s second woman with a chess title after Ngatane, who is a women fide master (WFM).
As for Naleli, she only represented Lesotho twice in the Olympiads.
McPherson told the Lesotho Times this week that before attending the seminar, they were already training and recruiting chess players through various platforms.
“I already have my own academy called Lesotho Knights Chess Academy where I teach students on Zoom,” McPherson said.
“As we have already been training students, the titles will give us more clout and uplift our profiles since people will know that we are qualified for the training that we offer to develop their skills.
“It is good thing to have more instructors because that means we will be having more people developing the sport.”
On the other hand, Chess Federation of Lesotho (CFL) public relations officer Khiba Selatela said even though the duo has been declared to have passed the examination, they are yet to receive their certificates. He however, said the increasing number of female instructors was a sign of the growth of chess.
“This means a lot to us. It is a sign of growth and we hope that the duo will do good work and produce even better chess players for the future,” Selatela said.
