The final batch of Ghana’s Junior chess team players have arrived in the Serbian town of Vrnjacka Banja near Belgrade for the on-going 2025 World Schools’ Championship. The championship got off to a start on the 21st of March in the Eastern European country without some of Ghana’s players due to travelling hindrances.
With the timely intervention of the Danny List Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that provides opportunities for children and young adults to improve their skills and develop their love for sports, the two chess players have joined the team and even played their first group of matches.
The two players, who are pupils of the Jane Montessori school at Tseaddo in the Ghanaian capital, Glenn Johnson Botwe and Alba Karina Quartey, qualified for the World Championship after the African trials in Accra last year and are FIDE ID holders in the game of chess.
The school’s Chess World Cup is a prestigious international tournament that brings together top junior chess players from around the world, and this year’s event has attracted over 700 young chess players from 43 national federations competing across a host of categories from U7 to U17, with a separate open girl’s event.
According to the Chairperson of the Danny List Foundation, Madam Angela List, the decision to sponsor Glenn Johnson Botwe, Alba Karina Quartey, and their mother, to the global championship was motivated by the foundation’s commitment to promoting less-financed sports, such as chess, as a tool for youth development. The Danny List Foundation has been a long-time supporter of sports development in Ghana, providing sponsorship and resources to talented young players and promoting the game in schools and communities across the country.
On his part, the father of the beneficiaries, Mr. Phil John Quartey, an Accra-based sports journalist, expressed his utmost gratitude to the leadership of the Danny List Foundation, especially Madam Angela List, for the foundation’s swift response.
He also thanked the management of TT Brothers Ghana Limited and Experts Consult Limited for their additional sponsorship for the young chess players.
Ghana’s entire team at the School’s Chess World Cup, led by its President, Philip Ameku and Christine Ashley are expected to return to Accra on the 31st of March.