The Namibia Chess Federation has been applauded for their record entry to the 2019 African Youth Chess championships. Secretary General of the African Chess Confederation Kezzie Msukwa said the political stability in the country has attracted more countries to be part of this year's African Youth Champs, which kicked off on Saturday. Over 200 players from 16 countries are competing in the weeklong event at the Windhoek Country Club. This has been the highest participation the confederation has recorded, surpassing the number of participation in Kenya last year. Msukwa believes this is one of the most prestigious events ever hosted by Namibia. "We are very happy. You see the attendance is very good. The reason is, it doesn’t come for free. It's because of political peace - that why people are free to come. We say thank you to the people of Namibia and the government of Namibia" Msukwa stated. The record entry contributed to the high standard of the competition, as all the strong youths from across Africa are taking part. "We have strong youths from South Africa, Namibia, Egypt, Algeria, and Zambia. All these are very strong countries. We are expecting upsets from Botswana. We also have very strong youth from Kenya, so it's a good competition. We are looking forward to good and competitive results" he said. Msukwa urged the Namibian government, in particular the sports ministry, to continue supporting the Namibian Chess Federation. "There are a lot of good things that come out of playing Chess amongst the children and that's why I would really want to appeal to the government to continue giving the support that Chess Namibia really needs. We as the Africa Chess Confederation are really indebted to them. We are looking forward to even greater events in the future" he added. The youth that would have qualified from the African Youth Championships will get tickets to the World Youth Championships next year.