The annual Uthungulu Youth championships were held on 20th and 21st August 2016 at Hoerskool Richardsbaai. Only the best players, who had already been selected for the team for the SA Junior Nationals, were invited to play. The tournament was then used to decide on their board order.
Here is a selection of photos, courtesy of Lisa Griffiths and her trusty cellphone:
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| Under 10: 1st Arav Surujhlal, 2nd Ayanda Shangase, 3rd Wian Diedericks |
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| Under 12 players: Philidile Madela vs Nomphilo Ntuli |
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| Hannah Gounden, board 1 of the u12 B team, plays Olwethu Chili |
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| Under 14: Liam Moonsamy (1st) vs Mongezi Shoba (2nd) |
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| Under 16: 2nd Sandile Mdunge, 1st Mthobisi Sibiya, 3rd Manelisa Sithole |
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| Uthungulu under 18 team |
I watched the end of an interesting game in round 5 between Sandiso Damone and Siyanda Khumalo. This was the position with each player having about 10 minutes left on his clock:
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| Sandiso Damone (to move) vs Siyanda Khumalo |
Black threatens mate in 2 so
1.Qd6+ Kb7 is forced, and now Sandiso chose 2.Qd5+ instead of 2.Qd2 which looked promising. Since Black cannot play 2.Qd2 Re1+ 3.Kf2 R7e2+ 4.Qxe2 etc he would have to try and double his Rooks on the 7th rank with 2.Qd2 Re2 3.Qd5+ Kb8 4.Qxc4 Rb2! and it looks like a draw after 5... Ree2 follows. After
2.Qd5+ Ka6 3.Qa8+ Kb5 4.Qd5+ Siyanda should have taken the draw with 4... Ka6 5.Qa8+ Kb5 etc, but instead he chose to escape the checks with
4... Ka4? Do you see the refutation? Sandiso quickly sacrificed his Queen with
5.Qxe4! and the game ended with
5... Rxe4 6.b7 Re8 7.a6 Kb3 8.a7 Kxc3 9.b8=Q Rxb8 10.axb8=Q and White won.
Detailed results for each age group section were as follows:
under 10,
under 12,
under 14,
under 16,
under 18 & 20.
