42 Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital’s innovative and disruptive coding school that provides a unique peer-to-peer, gamified learning methodology, hosted its first chess tournament in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Chess Club & Mind games. The tournament was held in 42 Abu Dhabi’s campus on 7 December 2022, in the presence of world-renowned chess champions.
During the tournament, 42 Abu Dhabi students had the chance to compete with global chess champions, which was both a challenge and an opportunity for students to learn from the best in the field. Participating chess champions included RoudaEssa Al Serkal, World Champion under 8, and Winner of over 20 Continental and World Medals, Ousha Al Shamsi, Former UAE Chess Champion, Ahmad Al Romathi, Winner of multiple medals in UAE National Tournaments and Salma Al Dhaffari, FIDE Master and Former Arab Champion.
The event was a great opportunity to highlight 42 Abu Dhabi’s efforts to equip its students with not only coding skills but also interpersonal skills that are necessary to thrive and succeed in their future workplace. The tournament also sought to improve students’ cognitive skills including concentration, pattern recognition, decision-making, problem-solving and spatial reasoning.
The chess tournament enabled students to enhance their analytical thinking and formulate long-term strategies to beat their opponents. It also strengthened students’ concentration span, as the game requires them to focus, calculate positions and come up with innovative strategies to checkmate their opponent.These skills aim to increase their chances of success in the workplace and enables them to be prepared to be key contributors in real-world projects.
Allan Thekkepeedika won first place in the chess tournament, with UlugbekIsroilov in 2nd place, Abdul Samad Pila Valappil in 3rd place, SyimykZhakypov in 4th place and Mohammed Patel in 5th place. The winning students were awarded with valuable prizes to encourage them to participate in such interactive events organized by the school.
Marcos Muller Habig, Acting CEO of 42 Abu Dhabi, said: “The chess tournament was a remarkable opportunity for us to inspire our students, elevate their interpersonal skills, and provide them with a taste of real professional competing experience, which will enhance their critical thinking and strategic skills. Hosting the chess tournament comes in line with our endeavours to create a talent pool of coders who are prepared to overcome future challenges and accelerate the Emirate’s digital economy.”
42 Abu Dhabi is an innovative and disruptive coding school, launched in 2020 as an initiative of the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) and Abu Dhabi’s Ghadan 21 accelerator program, which aims to drive Abu Dhabi’s ongoing development through multi-faceted investments in business, innovation and people.
