iGovTT lends laptops to prisons for chess contest

With the Inter-Continental Chess Championship for prisoners just a week away, iGovTT, a division of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, has stepped in and offered ten laptops on loan, for use by the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service team players.

In a short handing-over on Wednesday, at the iGovTT office in Port of Spain, acting Superintendent of Prisons Allan Nanan and TT Chess Association (TTCA) president Sonja Johnson were presented with the laptops by iGovTT acting deputy CEO Sherwin Ragoonanan.

A TTCA statement on Wednesday said, “In addition to the strategic planning by the co-ordinators, rigorous training for the inaugural competition is ongoing for the Prison Service team members.

It said Johnson and her "experienced ensemble of coaches" were leading training via the service’s programmes department under the expertise of Johnson, adding, "The competitors are excited, working diligently and looking forward to the actual competition.”

The Inter-Continental Chess Championship for prisoners. the first of its kind. is being hosted by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in Chicago, in collaboration with the International Chess Federation, FIDE, as part of its "Chess for Freedom" project.

Twenty-two prisoners from five correctional facilities in Trinidad will be selected to compete in this virtual event.

Johnson introduced the initiative to the prisons’ programmes team in July and it has received the full backing of the TT Prisons Service.

From September 9-17, the qualifying competitions were held at the Port of Spain, Women’s, Golden Grove Prison, Remand and Maximum Security prisons.

These five rounds were contested by 90 participants from the five prisons. The final team (16 men, six women) will be selected by Johnson and other TTCA representatives.