Fun in King Cetshwayo

King Cetshwayo district organised a fun tournament over the weekend of 24th/25th June 2017. Many of the children took the opportunity to dress up in chess themed costumes:

Yasthi Naidoo had a Queen hair accessory

Keane Reddy & Paityn Reddy won the best dressed prize

Liam Naidoo, the Rook, with Paityn Reddy

Lisa Griffiths forwarded me the following message from one of the parents, Justin Moodley, who decided to play in his first tournament, together with his kids:

Somebody once said, "The measure of a man is not how  he starts but rather how well he finishes". This is what I have inculcated in the every day living of my kids. Today was just that day, when I came to realise, I was not only going to swallow those words but digest it too. My name is Justin Moodley, husband to a wonderful and inspiring wife, Jean. And not forgetting father to my wonderful, disciplined and hardworking kids, Jamie and Jurina, who are very much involved in chess. When my kids asked me to enter the King Cetshwayo tournament dated for the 24th & 25th June 2017, little did I realise that they were not joking. I won't forget their words which convinced me; "Dad you play reasonably well, if you win or lose it does not matter, just play to have fun". Guess what, I did just that, at first I was a bit nervous as I was the only wild card entry from the Dads category. So what did I learn from every encounter when I participated; At times I felt as though every bit of oxygen was slowly being sapped out of me, BUT somehow a little voice within me kept telling me never to give up. Game after game, in order to succeed, that's what our kids have to endure at the Provincial District level or the National level. I encourage all parents, be it Mums or Dads that can play chess, just join in the game and have fun. You are never too old to do the extraordinary, by sharing in your child's dream. Today for me was one of the greatest moments that will never be forgotten but cherished, NOT only did I participate for the first time in a chess tournament with both my kids, they also coached me whilst faced with their own challenges. Through it all they both succeeded in finishing 2nd in the under 12 & under 14 age category. My message to all kids; in a game of chess you cannot always expect victory but you can always plan for defeat. Best regards, Justin Moodley.

Justin Moodley, seated on the right

The final results were as follows: under 10, under 12, under 14, under 16 and open sections.

Mandeni vs Dolphins

Siphamandla Nkosi reports from Ilembe: A fierce battle took place between the Mandeni Chess Club and the Dolphin Coast Chess Club at Salt Rock Library on Saturday 1st July. We were very happy to have Angelo Daniel, Isaiah Daniel and Trishul Jainarain from Umhlanga Chess Club join us. The club tournament played over 5 rounds of 60/60 standard was won by Mandeni Chess Club, scoring 34 points to 29 points. Here are some of the pictures taken by Mandeni Head Coach Siyabonga Gumede:

Lastly, here are the results of the High School section and the Senior Primary section.

ECA Trials results

The 2nd Ethekwini Youth Trials took place from 3rd to 5th July 2017, at Gordon Road Girls School. I fear that we will not be invited back there again, after all the littering that took place. Player numbers were up on the 1st Youth Trials held in March and it looks like Ethekwini will have some competitive teams at the SA National team championships, to be held in January 2018.

The SAJCC website http://www.sajcc.co.za/ indicates that Birchwood will be the venue once again.

Here are the final results for each of the age groups:
under 8 & 10,
under 12,
under 14,
under 16,
under 18 & 20.

ECA Youth Trials July

Ethekwini Chess Association has just released the entry form for its second Youth Trials of 2017. This event will be held at Gordon Road Girls School from 3rd to 5th July 2017. It will consist of a seven round Swiss for each age group, with time control of 90 minutes per player per game. For more information please contact Ayanda Gumede (076 285 0020).

SA Open 2017 brochure

The SA Open will be held in Durban this year, from the 14th to the 22nd of July 2017. The venue will be Glenwood High School. There will be three main sections, with standard time controls, as well as rapid and blitz events available for interested players. Section A is for players rated over 1500, it will be FIDE rated and 11 rounds will be played (entry fee R500). Section B is for players rated below 1500, also 11 rounds (entry fee R400). Section C will be a weekend event, with 6 rounds (entry fee R200).

For more information, please see the online brochure, and here is a link to the online entry form.

The last time the SA Open was played in Durban was in 1996, so I trust that all local players will take this opportunity to play. I played in five SA Open tournaments - in 1978, 1984, 1993, 1995 and 1996 - and have written an article about the history of the SA open in Durban for the occasion of its return to Durban.

More results/photos

Here is a brief report on some recent tournaments.

The King Cetshwayo district championships were held over the weekend of 20/21 May 2017. The adult section was won by their head coach, Mlungisi Mbanjwa, with a perfect score of 7 out of 7. The top lady was Penny Dlamini who tied for 4th place with 4 points. The age group sections were well attended, with 160 enthusiastic youngsters participating, hoping for a place in the King Cetshwayo district youth teams. Sorry, no photos as yet. I'm also waiting for team selections to be announced. Here are the detailed results for the tournament:
adult section, under 18 & 20, under 16, under 14, under 12, and under 10.

The same weekend of 20/21 May 2017 saw their neighbours in the Ilembe district hold their Youth trials at Umhlali Preparatory School. There were 4 age groups and a total of 88 players. Again, I am waiting for the teams to be announced. Here are the detailed results for the tournament:
under 16, 18 & 20, under 14, under 12, and under 10.

A one day tournament was held in Pietermaritzburg on 27 May 2017. The boys were put to the sword by a 15-year old girl, Dayaan Parthiephal, who won the Kings tournament with a full house 5 out of 5. Here are the detailed results and some photos sent to me by Raindree Chetty:

Prize winners, Dayaan is in the middle, Raindree is 2nd from right

Recent results/photos

I've got several recent tournaments to report on. The first event was the annual KZN open, organised this year by Erick Takawira, president of the KZN Chess Association. The KZN open was held at Northlands Primary School from 27th to 30th April 2017.

The A section was FIDE rated and was won by Joseph Mwale. Joseph started out like a house on fire with 6 wins, clinching the title with a round to spare. The key game was against IM Mabusela in round 5, when Mabu blundered a piece against him. Joseph lost in the last round to second placed Brighton Mthunzi, who was joined on the same score by the leader of the Hyenas pack, Stephen Skosana. I have posted all the games (in PGN) onto chess-results.com and you can also find all the usual statistics there.

The B section was limited to players rated below 1500. Sizwe Ndlovu was a convincing winner, and I don't think he will be rated below 1500 for much longer!

On Saturday 29th, in the afternoon, a keen field of 70 players tried their luck at blitz chess (5 minutes each). Here are detailed results of the KZN blitz championship. As can be seen, Joseph Mwale scored a full house 9 out of 9. He was dead lost - on the board - in at least 3 of his games, but Joseph treats the clock like an extra piece, and won all his "lost" games on time. Second place was shared by 4 players, namely Lindokuhle Xulu, Tshediso Mpya, Wandamuzi Khanyile and Charles Pwere.

There were two rapid tournaments held in KZN on Saturday 6th May 2017. The first of these was the Durban High School rapid cup, which was won jointly by Jason Subke and Sayen Naidu. Here are the detailed results of the DHS rapid cup.

The second rapid, played in the Saint Lucia town hall, was the stronger event, with 3 KZN champions in the field. It was won by Erick Takawira, ahead of Joseph Mwale and Wanda Khanyile (Wanda held Joseph to a draw, but lost to Erick). Here are the summary results from the St Lucia event.

My thanks to Sandile Ngcongo, who organised the Saint Lucia event, for the following photos:

Players at the Saint Lucia rapid

Erick Takawira

Joseph Mwale

Sizwe Ndlovu

Erick with Sandile Ngcongo

KZN open entries

This year's KZN Open Championship is to be played from 27th to 30th April 2017, at Northlands Senior Primary School in Gleneagles Drive, Durban North. Durban Chess Club organised this event for 50 years from 1967 through to 2016, and you can find a full list of KZN champions on the club's website. This year the event will be organised for the first time by the KZN Chess Association. The A section will be FIDE rated and there is also a B section, for players rated below 1500.

For more information, see this invitation to the KZN open championship.

Chess and maths

It is well known that world champions Emmanuel Lasker and Max Euwe were also mathematicians, but I was quite surprised to realise that I have played chess against five professors of mathematics, namely Peter Dankelmann, John van den Berg and his father Johan, Michael Henning and Max Euwe. I don't believe I have played any other professors! I have also played against a number of actuaries, who are also very good at maths. Is there a connection between chess and maths? Both are based on problem solving. Chess players make extensive use of logic and pattern recognition skills, as do mathematicians. I think this is the reason that playing chess appeals to many mathematicians.

There is a school of thought that says that teaching chess to children is a good thing, as it also teaches them skills that can be used in other fields, such as mathematics.

In Ms Msomi's classroom at Kati Primary, Mandlazini Village, near Richards Bay

"Master Moves Kids" provides chess lessons that are linked into the school syllabus. It is supported by donations from many of South Africa's biggest companies. In the picture above, the pupils are learning about files by placing coloured stickers on a chess board. They are also learning about chess notation, number sizes, bar charts and co-ordinates at the same time!

There are lots of possibilities to learn whilst also having fun with chess. Take for example the piece values. When we exchange pieces, you have to add up how much each piece is worth and then say which is greater. Do we win or lose if we trade two minor pieces for a Rook? One final example, how do you move a Rook from a1, so that it touches every square on the board only once? My immediate reaction was the lawn mower method, but there is another, more elegant, solution. Think about it!