sportsmanship has no boundaries.

Each day the children face opponents from around the world on an international online chess club site.

Every time the local youngsters discover an adversary from a different country, they write the country's name at the front of the room.

On Tuesday, the board was littered with cities from far-off Norway, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Israel, Australia and the United States.

Visiting chess master Joel Salman explained that the players would receive an online rating which would allow them to play with people their own age or older with similar standing.

"It's a good opportunity for children to reach out,'' said Mr. Salman. He added that the players often took time away from games to start conversations with the simple sentence: "Hello from Bermuda, where are you from?''.

Many of the new cyber friends had plans to come to Bermuda, or spoke of the Island's beauty, said Mr. Salman.

"I'm here because I like chess,'' said 13-year-old Malachi. "I prefer to do this more than anything else in the world,'' he added.

Chess Club director Riquette Bonne-Smith said she planned to hold the camp three to four times a year.

And she thanked the Bermuda College for its generosity and the Bermuda Chess Federation and its president Nigel Freeman for their support.

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