ECA June youth trials

The first Ethekwini Youth Trials tournament took place at St Anthony's in Greyville from the 27th to 29th June 2016. There were 225 players and 7 rounds of 90/90 chess were played over the 3 days.

Here are some photos from the event:

View of the tournament from the stage

Kaedan Govender won all his games and a large trophy

The under 14 section was closely contested, with 57 competitors. In the end, 3 players tied for 1st on 6 points out of 7. Seen below are Jaedon Naidu and Sachen Pather receiving their trophies from Dinesh Nair.

Sizwe Ndlovu did very well in the u18 section

Here are the final results for each age group:
under 08 section,
under 10 section,
under 12 section,
under 14 section,
under 16 section,
under 18 section,
under 20 section.

KZN chess elections

A new committee was elected on 24th June 2016 to take KZN chess forwards over the next 2 years. I hereby list their names and contact details:

President: Erick Takawira
Cell: 073 434 8634
Email: takawirachess@gmail.com

Vice President: Mbongeni Sithole
Cell: 076 763 2328
Email: mcsithole@hotmail.com

Secretary: Londiwe Khumalo
Cell: 079 0438 286 / 0765130382
Email: londiwe102@gmail.com

Additional Member: Sbu Mkhize
Cell: 073 181 8465
Email: Sbukhabzo@hotmail.com

Treasurer: Zandile Gwamanda
{I do not have her contact details}

KZN District championship

It was perhaps no surprise that Ethekwini won the inaugural KZN District championships, held over the weekend of 24th to 26th June 2016. Much more interesting was the battle for the silver medals, which was won by the Uthungulu district after narrow wins over their chief rivals from Amajuba, who took the bronze medals, and the Ilembe district, which finished in 4th place.

The full results have been published on the chess-results.com website, here is a link to the team results summary.

Here is a game with a very nice finish, sent to me by coach Spha from Ilembe:

Some photos from the prizegiving (more photos in a separate post):

Team Amajuba with their bronze medals, Gugu Mkhize centre front.
KZNCA chair Erick Takawira centre back. 

The top players on each board, most of them had blue Ethekwini shirts!

Ethekwini youth trials

These are scheduled to take place from the 27th to 29th June 2016. There will be 7 rounds played at 90 minutes per player per game. Further details are contained in the entry form.

KZN schools trials

A 5 round rated tournament was held on the weekend of 4th to 5th June 2016 to select players for the upcoming National Top Schools tournament (due to be held in Durban in July). A total of 388 boys and girls took part in this event which was held at the KZN Badminton Hall. The organisers have sent me the results which were as follows: under 13 boys, under 13 girls, under 15 boys, under 15 girls, under 18 boys, under 18 girls.

Uthungulu May swiss

Uthungulu Chess Association held their third tournament of the year from 28th to 29th May 2016, with 159 players vying for places in the Uthungulu team. The guest of honour at the prizegiving was Mr Thami Mchunu from the Uthungulu Sports Confederation who presented the trophies and gave some encouraging words to the players. A big thank you also goes to the Parents committee who designed and sold bright red T-shirts as part of their fund raising efforts.

Lisa Griffiths and Thami Mchunu present best junior female player trophy to Tiara Peters

Youngest player Kirthan Naidoo in his Uthungulu T-shirt

Under 18 prize winners Lundi Shoba, Siyabonga Sithole and Sibongakoke Mazibuko

Here are the final results for each age group, including the open division:
under 10 results, under 12 results, under 14 results, under 16 results, under 18 results, under 20 results, and open section results.

Mabusela wins KZN open

DCC chairman Desmond Rooplal congratulates Mabusela on his victory

The 2016 KZN open was won by visiting IM Johannes Mabusela from Tshwane, with the fine score of 7½ points out of 8. In 2nd place was Wandumuzi Khanyile from Richards Bay, with 7 points. Here are the final results of the 2016 KZN open.

A more detailed report, including photos and some annotated games, can be found on the Durban Chess Club website. I have now captured the games played on the top 10 boards for viewers to download.

KZN open turns 50

The Durban Chess Club started organising the annual Natal Open swiss in 1967. The event was renamed as the KZN Open from 1994 onwards. A history of the competition and its winners can be found on the Durban Chess Club website. Over the years it has been won by five South African champions - David Walker, Frank Korostenski, Mark Rubery, Charles de Villiers and Daniel Cawdery - as well as GM Amon Simutowe and IM's Craig Pritchett, George Michelakis and Johannes Mabusela. My name first appears on the list of winners in 1977, a long time ago - nowadays I am the chief arbiter! This year the event will be hosted at Northlands Senior Primary School in Durban North, from the 30th April to the 2nd May. To enter the tournament, here is a link to the online entry form, or you can download an entry form (pdf).

Junior Closed, Bloemfontein

The annual SA Junior Closed Chess Championships took place at Eunice Girls High School in Bloemfontein this year. Their main hall was used for the older players, from under 14 to under 20, with an adjacent hall used for the younger players. I was present as the deputy chief arbiter and was responsible for the main hall, where the players behaved so well that the arbiters had little to do!

I even had time to watch some of the games ...

The event was well organised by Chess Free State, who found accommodation for their numerous visitors at the Wag n Bietjie hostel on the UVS campus. I traveled there with fellow arbiter Divesh Sookdeo and KZN coach Sayen Naidu on the 19th March and we returned to Durban on the 27th.

KZN was quite successful at the event. Prizes were given to:

Kaedan Govender - tied 2nd in under 8 boys with 8/11 (no photo).

Archana Datharam (on left) tied 2nd in under 8 girls with 8/11.

Her sister Aarti Datharam dominated the u10 girls, with 10 wins and a draw.

Charlotte Millard (on left) was 3rd in the under 10 girls.

Jaedon Naidu - tied 3rd in under 12 boys with 7/11 (no photo).

Our most successful age group was the under 14 boys, where Cailin Chetty won gold with 9/11, just half-a-point ahead of his rival Naseem Essa.

Naseem was leading until disaster struck on Thursday

The final KZN medallist came in the under 20 boys section, where Nashlen Govindasamy tied 1st with Roland Bezuidenhout on 9.5 points. Bezuidenhout won the gold on tiebreak.

Our top u20 player Nashlen Govindasamy

Games played on the top 10 boards for all the different age groups were captured and published on the chess-results.com website. However, the capturers gave up very quickly when they couldn't read the score sheets eg. Nashlen's score sheets seemed to give them a lot of trouble! I visited the games capturing room and was able to capture all the moves of every game played in the under 20 boys section for the first 10 rounds. I was not able to check the last round as I was busy with the play-offs. Anyway, here is a PGN file of all the games from the u20 boys section.