ChessCube Supports Chess Education in South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa – 23 December 2009. ChessCube, a South African based Internet Chess Company with an 800,000 membership, offers support to President Zuma’s recent initiatives to encourage South African youth to play chess.

Playing chess at school could lead to job creation. Mark Levitt, CEO and founder of ChessCube, says, “President Zuma noted that the sport of chess develops strategic thinking for school going children. It also aids the development of mathematic and languages skills. David Macenulty, a US-based chess coach, proved that inner city New York learners who studied chess at primary school went onto tertiary education far more than their peers. So great was his contribution to chess in schools that it inspired the Ted Danson film ‘Knights of the South Bronx’.”

Levitt explains the impact of chess now on the future jobs of South Africa’s youth: “Kids who play chess at primary school level tend to go onto tertiary education to secure and create employment for themselves and others. Chess plays an important role as one of the many initiatives to create a prosperous South Africa of growth, starting with the youth.”

ChessCube is launching an online schools chess initiative in South Africa and other countries from early 2010. The South African government, a number of NGOs and large corporates are doing a great deal to improve Internet and computer services in schools. ChessCube will be working with all providers to ensure that schools in South Africa can connect to ChessCube’s classroom service.

“ChessCube will provide facilities for children to play chess online and to receive online video training”, explained Levitt. “The basic service will be free to all schools in South Africa, and we will be working with big business to sponsor additional opportunities for South African youth.”

ChessCube recently raised R10m from Invenfin, the Venture Capital subsidiary of Remgro Ltd, a listed South African Company.

Useful links
ChessCube Facebook Application: http://apps.facebook.com/chesscube/
ChessCube website: www.chesscube.com

Contact information
ChessCube(Pty) Ltd.
Contact: Mark Levitt (CEO)
+27 82 389 3637
+27 21 555 2019
mark@chesscube.com

About ChessCube
ChessCube (www.chesscube.com) was launched in June 2007 from Cape Town headquarters. It has since grown to a community of over 800,000 avid chess players, and continues to grow. ChessCube is an innovative, and award-winning, live chess platform. Mark Levitt, founder and CEO of ChessCube, is four times South African Chess Champion, and many of ChessCube’s board members are avid, strong chess players themselves. ChessCube’s investors include Invenfin (the venture capital subsidiary of the Remgro Limited group) Vinny Lingham and Michael Leeman.

For more information or images, please contact Mark Levitt (mark@chesscube.com) or Sarah Blake (sarah@chesscube.com).

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