On the first day we had a tournament for the under 12 players. There were no defaults and the juniors played so quickly that I was able to do pairings sooner than expected, so we finished the day early. As there were not enough under 10 players for a full team, the best under 10 players were included with the best under 12 players for team selections.
On the second day we had a full house of players from under 14's to under 20's. Despite lots of late entries we started on time, but then ran late as there were so many defaulters (players who had entered but who failed to pitch up) who had to be removed from the draw before round 2. We later caught up on the playing schedule and held the selectors meeting and prize-giving on time.
On both days there were a lot of new and inexperienced players, with a surprising number of games ending in draws due to stalemate or the 50-move rule (when trying to mate with K+Q vs K or K+R vs K). That's something for Head coach Makhosonke to sort out before Nationals in January! Here are some pictures from both days of the youth trials:
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| Stefan Britz vs Mongezi Shoba, they both scored 6/7 and tied for 1st place |
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| Tlhoni Tsotetsi also scored 6/7 in the under 12 |
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| Khandisiwe Mbambo |
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| Scorers Nishi and Michelle were kept busy |
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| Lisa Griffiths with best girls Lungelo Vilakazi and Londeka Buthelezi |
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| This game ended in stalemate! |
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| Sandile Mdunge vs Nikash Baboolal, the top 2 seeds in under 14 |
Here are the final results for each age group:
under 8/10/12 results
under 14 results
under 16/18/20 results
For more information, contact Lisa Griffiths.
