The city of Lagoa will once again be the capital of chess, with the fifth and final round of the Youth Chess Tournament taking place on March 9, the Lagoa municipality has announced.

The event is organized by the Chess Association of the Autonomous Region of the Azores (AXRAA), with the support of the Lagoa town council, and will take place at the Santo António convent in the parish of Santa Cruz, with around half a hundred athletes expected to take part.

According to a statement from Lagoa town hall, its sports councillor, Nelson Santos, says that “this is an event that has been supported and cherished by the municipality for many years, and is an opportunity to bring the sport closer to the community, in one of the most emblematic places in the municipality.”

Nelson Santos also highlights the dynamism of the AXRAA board, which has managed to increase its athlete base in a sport that stimulates not only concentration, reasoning, mental calculation and self-confidence, but also tactics and strategy.

The fifth round of the Youth Tournament will start at 2:30 p.m., with a total of four rounds in a Swiss system, with 15-minute matches, with an extra five seconds for each move per player. Entries must be made to the AXRAA contacts by March 8th.

The Azores is the region in the country with the most federated athletes per inhabitant. In 2023, AXRAA had a total of 209 affiliated athletes.

In Diário da Lagoa, Clife Botelho-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno–PBBI thanks the sponsorship of the Luso-American Development Foundation from Lisbon, Portugal (FLAD)