Namitembo left presents the dummy cheque to Ngugama

National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc has given K2 million to the Malawi Youth Chess team which leaves the country tomorrow for Zambia to participate at the African Youth Chess Championships which run from 2 10 July 2022.

Speaking in Blantyre during the cheque presentation, NBM plc Victoria Avenue Service Centre Manager Julie Namitembo said the Bank is proud to be associated with the promotion of the Chess game in the country through the Chess association of Malawi (Chessam) hence the support.

“We are proud to be associated with Chessam as this is not the first time that we have collaborated to promote the game of chess in the country.

“We have been there before to support Chessam in its school competitions and as a Bank we have been impressed with the way Chessam has been conducting these competitions.”

“NBM plc is also fascinated with the African Youth Championship because it involves young chess players who will mature to become world Chess players because they have started playing this game while young, we all know how people improve in what they do when they start doing that thing during a young age,” said Namitembo.

She noted that the standards of the youth games have greatly improved in the past 5 years.

“The development of the game of chess in the country starts from the development of youth chess and that is why we are hopeful that our team will do well at these games and make all of us proud with their expected achievements,” said Namitembo.

Chessam National Schools’ Coordinator Margaret Ngugama thanked NBM plc for the support towards the Zambia trip by the youth team.

“We are very grateful to NBM plc for this support and we appreciate the support that we get from the bank. You have been supporting us from the school project and also the online tournament.

“We will be sending 12 official players and 6 additional ones who will sponsor themselves. We are happy with the selection of the players because they represent the whole country,” said Ngugama.

The players making the trip include Lucie Chimeta, Alipo Namangale, Patience Mtumbuka, Michael Mlambala, Jailos Rachel, Beston Phiri, Trintance Kapalamula, Mark Nyirongo, Shalom Kapende, Blessings Phiri, Annie Simwamba and Titus Saka.