A relative newcomer to the Southwest is hoping to make a name for himself on the national chess scene later this month.
Sergio Del Bosque only arrived in Swift Current in October of 2022, but he recently became the Saskatchewan chess champion and in the process qualified for Nationals. His dad began teaching him chess in Mexico at the age of seven and he began playing the game seriously at the age of 12.
“I like chess. I don’t why it is the only sport that I like a lot. It is very interesting for me. I keep practicing and I want to be one of the best in Mexico. I want to be a national champion in Mexico or in Canada or maybe or a continental champion maybe. I want to get a good success in it,” said Del Bosque, 16.
Riley Sharp and Carson Montgomery formed the Swift Current Comp. High School Chess Club in January of 2023 and had an initial sign-up of 53 students.
“Yeah probably the chess club is the place in the school where I know more people and started making friends. It also opened the doors to the tournaments here in Saskatchewan, because I didn’t know about them until they told me. It has helped me a lot outside and inside of the school,” explained Del Bosque.
Montgomery eventually encouraged Del Bosque to attend chess tournaments, most recently the provincial chess championship in Regina where he became the Saskatchewan chess champion.
Nationals will be held on May 22-24 in Montreal and his supporters at the high school have initiated a fundraising campaign to help get the grade 11 student and a chaperone to the event.
The GoFundMe had already earned over half of the goal of $3,000 within six hours of being posted on Wednesday.
“I’m very grateful about it because probably in Mexico we will not have this same help as here. I’m very grateful because all the people have been very kind… I’m very grateful to all of the community. I want to bring a good place for them,” said Del Bosque.
Read the May 11 edition of the Southwest Booster for the complete story.
