Mayoral Cup report

Report by Sandile Xulu and Keith Rust, photos by Sifiso Xulu: The inaugural Ethekwini Mayoral Chess Cup took place at the City Hall on Saturday 3rd October 2015. Players came from all over the province of KZN and even from Gauteng to play. We also had a group of orphans from the Abalindi Welfare Society in Matikwe who participated in the tournament. Our youngest player of the tournament – Kaedan Govender, just 6 years old – won the Mayor’s Cup in the under 8 years category.  The other age category winners who went home with a Mayor’s Cup were Naseem Essa, Keith Khumalo and Thato Moremi.

Trophy winners with the Mayor, Cllr. James Nxumalo

Prize winners in the 9 to 12 years category

Surprisingly, the winner of the main prize in the Open Category, where everybody was competing for glory, was 16 year old Thato Moremi, all the way from Johannesburg, who won the tournament with a score of 6.5 out of 7. Thato defeated top KZN players Erick Takawira, Joseph Mwale and Lulama Qobo, keeping his nerve in some tough positions. Here is the finish of his game against Qobo:

Moremi vs Qobo

Play continued with 1...Kg4 and now Thato produced the winning variation 2.Qf4+ Qxf4 3.gxf4 Kxf4 4.a4 Ke3 5.Ke1 g5 6.a5 g4 7.a6 h4 8.a7 g3 9.hxg3 hxg3 10.a8=Q and Black had to resign. Mbongeni Sithole was the only player who managed to get a draw against Thato.

Thato walked away with the main Trophy, a gold medal and a cash prize of R2 000. Lulama Qobo, Joseph Mwale and Ntando Zwakala shared the runner-up prize of R1 000 as they tied on 6 points each.

Most importantly, and on behalf of the organizing team of Sakhisizwe Legacy Society, we would like to pass our gratitude to the Mayor, Cllr. James Nxumalo for his presence. Both players and spectators alike were excited to witness the Mayor playing chess and interacting with the children. The Mayor’s speech was encouraging and carried a message of wisdom. We also thank the Ethekwini Municipality for opening doors for chess at the City Hall. After the tournament, the Natal Trial Singers – Iscathamiya group – entertained us with their moves on stage and sweet African sounds.

The organising team Andisiwe Silangwe, Dumile Mbuthuma and Sandile Xulu with the Mayor

Our appreciation must also go to SAB as one of our sponsors, their contribution and campaign message which says “No to Under Age Drinking” was indeed well projected. Thanks to Sakhisizwe Legacy Society and all our other sponsors – KZN Chess Association, SmartMoves Project and Caring for the Earth Org for their contributions to this event.

Here are the final results.

Mayoral Cup announced

The inaugural Ethekwini Mayoral Chess Cup takes place this coming weekend on 3rd October 2015 at Durban's City Hall. The Mayor of Ethekwini, Councillor James Nxumalo will hand over the main prizes. There will be some entertainment lined up to make the day even sweeter and tastier.

The overall winner will lift the main cup and receive a gold medal accompanied by R2 000 cash! Further information can be found in the entry form for the tournament. Due to the logistics around the venue, only the first 120 players will be accepted.

Entries are to be emailed to Keith Rust by no later than Friday 2nd October. For more information, please contact the organizer Sandile Xulu.

Arbiters workshop

An arbiters workshop will be held on 19th and 20th September 2015 at Northwood High School (Durban North). The workshop instructors will be Keith Rust and Divesh Sookdeo. Saturday will be spent on training exercises and discussion of the FIDE Laws of Chess (2014), then there will be an open book exam on Sunday. Here is a more detailed training programme.

The cost for the workshop and exam will be R150, payable at registration on Saturday morning (08h30). Please bring the following to the workshop/exam:

1) Pens, pencils, ruler and Calculator

2) Exam pad/Notebook for the workshop

3) ID Book (proof of identity)

All attendees must read the AOC Arbiters Manual 2014, which is downloadable from the AOC downloads and resources page. Other course materials that will be referred to are the Chess SA rating rules and the AOC arbiter regulations.

Update 29th September: congratulations to Cheshni Jeena, Craig Atkinson, Rahul Beekrum and Sayen Naidu on becoming Candidate Provincial Arbiters. Lulama Qobo becomes a Tournament Supervisor and Ilshaad Hussain a Schools Supervisor.

ECA teams selected

Players selected to represent the Ethekwini Chess Association at the SA Junior Team Championships were announced in a previous post, about the 3rd Grand Prix tournament. Since then, a number of players have withdrawn from the squads and have been replaced. Announcements concerning board orders were made at an awards ceremony for all selected players and their parents held on 13th September 2015 at the Open Air School in Durban.

Here are the team selections as announced at the awards ceremony.

For further information, please contact Divesh Sookdeo.

KZN Top Schools results

The 2015 KZN Top Schools Team Championship was held at the Old Mutual Sports Centre (UKZN) in Durban, from Saturday 12th to Sunday 13th September 2015. Thank you to the Department of Sport & Recreation for sponsoring such a successful event.

Some photos from the team championships follow:

Here are the results and the winners for the following sections:
under 13 girls - Ilembe;
under 13 open - Ilembe;
under 15 girls - Ilembe;
under 15 open - Pinetown;
under 18 girls - Ilembe;
under 18 open - Umlazi.

KZN Chess Queens

Reigning KZN champion, Joseph Mwale, has started a programme for all girls interested in playing chess. The first free coaching session for girls will be held from 15h30 to 17h00 at Gordon Road Girls School, on Wednesday 14th October 2015. Joseph hopes to host a tournament once every month for girls. Here is the entry form for the first such event, to be held on Saturday 19th October 2015, at Gordon Road Girls School.

PS. Here a couple of photos from the inaugural tournament:

SA Club Team Champs

The 2015 SA Club Chess Championship will be held at Glenwood Preparatory School in Durban, from 7th to 11th October 2015. The event is being organised by Glenwood Chess Club and is for teams of 4 players (plus 1 reserve), representing any chess club in South Africa. The A section will be FIDE rated and the B section will be Chessa rated. All that you need to know is contained in the 1st circular from the organisers.

3rd ECA Grand Prix results

The 3rd and final Grand Prix tournament took place at Kuswag High School (Amanzimtoti) on the weekend of 28th and 29th August 2015. There were 121 participants.

Duncan Podmore (1st u18) takes on Benjamin Seip

Top seed Naseem Essa could only draw this game (vs Chad Millard)

Under 10 players Charlotte Millard (2nd) and Jamie Evetts (1st)

The detailed results were as follows:
under 18/20 section;
under 16 section;
under 14 section;
under 12 section;
under 08/10 section.

Here are all the GPX points list after 3 events. There is a separate spreadsheet for each age group, and only the best 2 events for each player are shown. Players selected for the ECA squads have been highlighted in green. Announcements concerning board orders will be made at an awards ceremony for all selected players and their parents (see invitation) to be held on 13th September 2015 at the Open Air School in Durban.

For further information, please contact Divesh Sookdeo.

Uthungulu Winter rapids

The Uthungulu Winter Rapid tournament took place in Richards Bay on the weekend of 15th and 16th August 2015, with 121 competitors divided into 3 sections based on their age. I was kept very busy on the first day, with 5 rounds of rapid chess. Sunday was more relaxed, with 4 rounds played at 45 minutes for each player. Everybody was playing quickly, so we finished play an hour ahead of schedule. Thanks go to Lisa Griffiths and her committee for organising this event so well.

The Open section was won convincingly by the top seed, Wandumuzi Khayile, who is currently staying in the Richards Bay area. In second place was Mlungisi Mbanjwa, a student at the University of Zululand.

Wandumuzi Khanyile conceded just 2 draws

Lungisani Nyawo drew with Wanda in the last round

Lungelo Mthembu (3rd)

Xola Mpungose (6th)

There were not enough ladies to have a separate Womens open as originally planned, so the ladies had to try their chances in the Open section. Amongst them was Lisa Griffiths, who finished with 4 out of 9, the 2nd best score amongst the ladies. So now everybody knows that Lisa can play chess as well as organising tournaments!

Lisa won this game

Committee members getting assistance from young V

Many people travelled long distances to be at the event. My assistant arbiter, Pieter De Wit, travelled from Vryheid with his family to be at the tournament, and we also had a strong group of players from Nkandla. The under 12 section was won by Tlhoni Tsotetsi (Nkandla) with Petrie de Wit in 2nd place. The under 16 section was won by Stephan de Wit with Nikash Baboolal (R/Bay) in 2nd place.

Here are the final results files for each of the sections:
under 12 section;
under 16 section;
open section.

For more information, contact Lisa Griffiths.