President of the Barbados Chess Federation Allan Herbert has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Barbados Olympic Association Inc.

The Barbados Olympic Association is recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the National Olympic Committee of Barbados.

Mr. Herbert was elected during the Barbados Olympic Association’s Annual General Assembly on September 1, 2021.

This is the first time that a member of the Barbados Chess Federation has been elected as a director of the Barbados Olympic Association.

The Executive Board of the Barbados Chess Federation wishes to offer its sincerest congratulations to Mr. Herbert on his election.

Representatives of FIDE, the world governing body for chess, and the Confederation of Chess for Americas, have also offered congratulatory messages.

Mr. Herbert has been President of the Barbados Chess Federation 2015, and served as its Treasurer from 2011 to 2015. He has been Barbados’ FIDE from 1986 to present. Regionally, Mr. Herbert has served since 1998 as Treasurer for of Confederation of Chess for Americas, the governing body for Chess in the Americas Continent and in 2018, he was instrumental in convincing the CCA’s Board to incorporate and headquarter the organisation in Barbados.

At the world level, Mr. Herbert co-chaired FIDE’s Technical Assistance Commission between 2006 and 2010 and was Chairman between 2010 and 2018. During his tenure he spearheaded the restructuring of the development level categorisation for Federations based on objective criteria and the UN’s Human Development Index and refocused its programmes to a more performance-based system tracked by key activity indicators.

Currently, Mr. Herbert is a member of FIDE’s Social Commission, the body in FIDE responsible for promoting the use of chess as an equalizer, especially in the areas of women’s equality and children at risk and bridging the gap between the social and economic differences that impact people across the world.

Mr. Herbert is a recently retired Executive of the Massy Group and in his last posting managed the creation of the English-speaking Caribbean’s largest consumer loyalty programme, the Massy Card, which today rewards over 400,000 card holders in Barbados, Guyana, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Still an avid player, he continues to compete at the National level and is Head Coach for a grassroots programme called xPloreChess Barbados which provides, among other things, free learn to play classes for children wishing to learn chess.