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.

Durban Chess Club birthday

The Durban Chess Club is celebrating its 122nd birthday this week! The club was founded in August 1893 and is one of the oldest chess clubs in South Africa. I believe that the Cape Town chess club was founded earlier and is still active, but many other clubs such as those in Johannesburg and in Pietermaritzburg appear to have fallen into the abyss.

After many years at mysite.co.za, the Durban Chess Club website has recently relocated to its own domain durbanchessclub.co.za which is much easier to remember! All of the old content is still available on the new website. The move means that the previous 20Mb space restriction falls away, so I will be able to publish more images on the new club website.

Contact Desmond Rooplal (chairman) or  Keith Rust (captain of play) for more information.

3rd ECA Grand Prix entry

The Ethekwini Chess Association will be holding their 3rd and final Youth Grand Prix tournament from 29th to 30th August 2015 at Kuswag High School in Amanzimtoti. There will be 7 rounds played at 60/60 time control for the following age groups: under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.

Grand Prix points will be awarded to the top 20 players per age group per tournament, starting with 20 points for 1st place, 19 points for 2nd place, down to 1 point for 20th place. GPX points for each player's best 2 tournaments will be added together to get a GPX ranking list for selection purposes.

Here is the 3rd Grand Prix entry form which must be completed and sent to Divesh Sookdeo by 24th August 2015 to qualify for the discounted entry fee of R100.

Ilembe Youth trials

The Ilembe youth trials were held over the weekend of 1st/2nd August 2015 in Ballito. A total of 125 players entered the trials and the following players were selected for the 2015 Ilembe youth squads. These players will represent Ilembe at the SA Junior Chess Championships, to be held in Cape Town at the beginning of January 2016.

All players that have qualified for selection are requested to submit their contact details to Welcome Gwamanda.

Mandeni Chess Club

A new chess club has been formed in Mandeni Municipality, which is part of the Ilembe district. Siyabonga Gumede reports that Mandeni Municipality hosted a rapid chess tournament on 28 June 2015 which was very successful. We had 56 participants consisting of junior and adult players from Mandeni and surrounding areas.

Players at the Albert Mandeni rapid tournament

Thanks to all the Mandeni Municipality officials, Lulama Qobo as arbiter of the tournament and others who helped make sure that this tournament ran smoothly. The overall best players of the tournament were 1st Sandile Hadebe, 2nd Lungelo Luthuli, 3rd Banele Mbokazi. The Senior Primary section was won by 1st Njabulo Khumalo, 2nd Maphumulo Amahle, 3rd Sandiso Zulu. The Primary section was won by 1st Thalente Masango, 2nd Minenhle Zikalala, 3rd Aphiwe Zikalala.

The new club sent a team to the Mandela 67 minutes chess challenge held in Durban at the end of July. Here is a photo of the young chess enthusiasts from Mandeni:

For more information on the Mandeni Chess Club, contact Siyabonga Gumede.

Mandela 67 photos

Lindokuhle Xulu lost his last round game on board 1 to

1st placed Kela Kaulule Siame, seen with Sandile Xulu (chief organiser)

Mandela 67 results

Congratulations to Kela Kaulule Siame on winning the second Mandela 67 minutes chess tournament. He scored 6.5 points from his 7 games, with 6 wins and a draw against the defending champion, Joseph Mwale, in the 6th round. Mwale was part of a group of 4 players who tied for 2nd place with 6 points.

Top seed Johannes Mabusela drew in round 4 and blundered away a win in round 6 to end on only 5.5 points. Mabu was fortunate to survive his round 4 encounter with Durban's Lulama Qobo. In what was the most exciting game of the tournament, Lulama sacrificed a piece in the opening and Mabu was hard pressed to defend. At the end, Lulama decided to take a perpetual check, in a position where he had a forced win! Here is the game:


Here are the final results of the 2nd Mandela 67 chess tournament.

Mandela 67 Min Chess Challenge

The second "Mandela 67 Minutes Chess Challenge" will take place on the weekend of 25th/26th July 2015 at Addington Primary School in Durban. The time control is of course 67 minutes per player for each game. Here is the Mandela 67 flyer and entry form.

uShaka Marine World has agreed to sponsor us with seven Platinum passes, which will entitle the lucky winners to FREE entry into Sea World and  Wet 'n Wild for one year.

For more information, contact Sandile Xulu (cell number 082 455 4730).

2nd ECA Grand Prix results

The second Ethekwini Grand Prix tournament took place at Northwood High School from 27th to 29th June 2015. A total of 177 players took part in 8 rounds of standard rated chess over the 3 days.

Archana Datharam was joint 1st in under 8 section

Her sister Aarti Datharam won all her games in the under 10's

Kiaren Naidoo tied for 2nd place in the under 12's

Naseem Essa was a convincing winner in the under 14's

Thirushan Pather (under 16)

Yadhav Noubouth (under 16)

These are the final results after 8 rounds for:
under 08 group,
under 10 group,
under 12 group,
under 14 group,
under 16 group,
under 18 group,
under 20 group.

These are the GPX standings after 2 events.

Zuma Foundation in Ilembe

PRESS RELEASE

JACOB G ZUMA FOUNDATION – CHESS IN SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIP 2015

On Saturday 27 June 2015, the Foundation will be hosting its very first annual schools chess tournament, the ‘JACOB G ZUMA FOUNDATION - CHESS IN SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIP 2015’. The tournament takes place at Umhlali Preparatory School in the area of KwaDukuza (Stanger) from 09h00-16h30.

The Jacob G Zuma Foundation, under the stewardship of its Patron - the President of the Republic of South Africa, continues to make a difference where it matters most - in the field of education and training of our future leaders from the ranks of underprivileged children. Encouraged by the JZ CHESS OPEN success which takes place in December that dates back to 2009, the Foundation has formalized the program called ‘CHESS IN SCHOOLS’ launched in May 2014 and endorsed by the KZN Department of Education. The program is piloted in 20 schools in the district of Ilembe.

Since the program began we have trained more than 100 educators. The Foundation has not only trained educators but it has also dedicated a full-time chess coach who visits the schools and trains pupils as well. The President, in his capacity as patron, has been involved in promoting the game of chess encouraging government and private sector to invest in chess as an intervention to education. “The benefits of chess are well documented around the world, we are proud to be at the forefront of introducing and popularizing chess not only as a sport code but as the tool to unblock the potential of the young intellectuals and shaping the future of South Africa” said Mr Sandile Xulu who is the Foundation’s chess coach.

200 pupils from previously disadvantaged communities will have the opportunity to represent their schools in the championship tournament; each school will be represented by 10 players, 5 girls and 5 boys, while more than 50 educators do battle for a gold medal of the best chess educator. The event is expected to host about 300 players. High ranking officials from Provincial government, MEC of Education and HOD as well as district officials are expected to attend the event.

The details of the event are as follows:

Date: 27 June 2015           Time: 09h00-16h30

Venue: Umhlali Preparatory School - KwaDukuza

For more information contact Sandile Xulu (Chess Coordinator), cell 082 455 4730.

Zululand district photos

Eugene Barnard reports from Vryheid that the "Zululand Chess Association held its first tournament on 16th June 2015 at Pionier High School. The tournament was a huge success with 107 players from Vryheid and its surrounding areas competing. We as the Zululand Chess Association would like to thank every player for competing and showing us that the game of chess will always be played. We would like to see all schools in Zululand giving the opportunity to all scholars to play chess. Research shows, there is a strong correlation between learning to play chess and academic achievement."

Here is a selection of photos from the tournament:

Umzinyathi district photos

Jabulani Mthembu reports that chess is alive in the Umzinyathi (Dundee) district! The Umzinyathi Chess Association organized a successful chess tournament on 16th June 2015. The tournament was divided into an open and a closed category. Here are some photos from this event:

 

Youth Day chess events

We are delighted to announce that Zululand district will be holding a tournament in Vryheid on 16th June 2015. It will be a 7-round rapid event. Here is a copy of the entry form. For more details contact Nathi Masuku (073 134 1821) or Eugene Barnard (078 453 4923).

Update: Umzinyathi district is also holding a tournament on Youth Day.

Ethekwini AGM announced

Ethekwini Chess Association has announced that their 2015 AGM will take place at 10 am on 27th June 2015 at Northwood Boys High School. The 2nd Ethekwini Youth Grand Prix is being held on the same day at the same venue.

Here is the notice and agenda for the ECA meeting.

1st ECA Grand Prix results

The first Ethekwini Grand Prix tournament took place at Berea Primary School on 23rd and 24th May 2015. A total of 144 players took part in 7 rounds of 60/60 chess. Sorry, no photos!

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

Here is a copy of the ECA Selection Policy which explains the grand prix points system. For more information contact Divesh Sookdeo.

Lastly, here is the 2nd Grand Prix entry form. This event is to be held from 27th to 29th June at Northwood High School.

Uthungulu Youth Trials

The Uthungulu Youth Trials attracted 156 players and took place on 16th and 17th May 2015. All the players fitted quite comfortably in the main hall at Hoerskool Richardsbaai.

The playing hall at Hoerskool Richardsbaai (arbiter in the corner)

The ages of the players varied from 7 years old to 19 years old. The largest number of competitors was in the under 14 group, which had 54 players. The selections committee decided to send 2 teams to Nationals from this age group. Here is a photo of two of the under 14 competitors:

Stacey Stewart vs Bayanda Ndlovu (under 14 section)

Lisa Griffiths showing one of the magnificent floating trophies

Chairperson Lisa Griffiths was delighted with the new floating trophies, which were sponsored by some of the parents. The top 3 received a miniature, places 4 to 10 received medals, and the winners will have their names placed onto the floating trophies.

Top under 20 players Siyanda Khumalo (trophy winner) and Lungelo Mthembu

Here are the final results after round 7 for each age group:
under 12 results,
under 14 results,
under 16 results,
under 20 results.

For more information, please contact Lisa Griffiths.

Ethekwini Youth Grand Prix

The Ethekwini Chess Association will be holding their 1st Youth Grand Prix tournament on 23rd to 24th May 2015 at Berea Primary School. It will be contested over 7 rounds played at 60/60 time control and is for the following age groups: under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.

Grand Prix points will be awarded to the top 20 players per age group per tournament, starting with 20 points for 1st place, 19 points for 2nd place, down to 1 point for 20th place. GPX points for each player's best 2 tournaments will be added together to get a GPX ranking list for selection purposes.

Here is the 1st Grand Prix entry form which must be completed and sent to Divesh Sookdeo no later than 21st May 2015.

There will be three Grand Prix events this year. A minimum of 2 of the 3 tournaments must be played to be eligible for selection. The 2nd Grand Prix tournament will take place at Northwood High School from 27th to 29th June 2015.

Mwale wins KZN Open

The Durban Chess Club once again organised the annual KZN Open Championship, from 25th to 27th April 2015. Joseph Mwale was a convincing winner of this year's event, starting with a blistering 7 wins before easing off with a draw in the last round. Along the way he defeated top seed Erick Takawira (a 4-times KZN champion) and 2nd seed Nashlen Govindasamy. Joseph played all his games at a fast pace, leaving his opponents struggling both with the clock and with the position on the board.

With over R15 000 in prize money, the organisers expected lots of entries, but the usual visitors from Johannesburg decided at the last minute to stay at home and play in the Orion series. The championships were contested in two sections, with section A open to all players, and section B restricted to junior players rated below 1400. The first three rounds were played at 60/60, and the remaining five rounds were at 90/90, with no increments, so there were a number of exciting time scrambles.

Joseph Mwale, winner of the A section

Shivar Gopaulsingh, SA under 16 champion, took a draw from Mwale

The only time that Mwale was in serious trouble was on the first day of the competition, especially in his round 2 game against Mndeni Njapha:


In round 5 Joseph and Nashlen had a very interesting game, with Nashlen down to his last 5 minutes by move 35. They reached this position after Black's 47th move, with Nashlen down to his last 30 seconds:

Joseph thought for a while, I was expecting 48.Kd1 or Kd2 winning, but then he played the unexpected 48.Qxf4. I'm not sure how to annotate the move, it killed the attack and gained some seconds, but a Queen sacrifice? Joseph won on time on move 56.

The critical game between Mwale and Erick Takawira took place in round 7:


Top seed Erick Takawira seemed to be out of practice. He was fortunate to survive in his round 5 game against young Duncan Podmore:


There were lots of interesting games played, here is a PGN file of all the games played on the top boards of the A section (62 games).


The B section was restricted to junior players (under 18) rated below 1400. Michael Fu was the winner, with 7 points from his 8 games. In second place was Anele Danisa, the son of leading KZN player Cyril Danisa.

Michael Fu, winner of the B section

Santham Moodley and Charlotte Millard

These are the final results of the A section and the final results of the B section.

Dolphin Coast April Swiss

Coach Spa reports from Ilembe: Dolphin Coast Chess Club was proud to host a tournament on 18th April 2015 that attracted higher rated players from Durban to participate in our tournament. We are promoting rated tournaments in our area. In the past we hardly had rated tournaments. The forming of the Dolphin Chess Club will allow many local kids an opportunity to play rated tournaments with a chance to gain rating points and hopefully improve the standard of play.

We had 51 participants competing for the first prize of R1 000. The tournament was played over 5 rounds in a 60/60 format. In the adult section Joseph Mwale tied for first with Lulama Qobo on 5/5, followed by Cyril Danisa and Phiwe Phakathi who tied for 3rd place.

Organisers Natalie Smith and Kerry Evetts, Lulama Qobo, Joseph Mwale, arbiter Spa Nkosi

The High school section was won by Richard Paterson, 2nd place Demmer Brown, 3rd place Luthuli Lungelo. In the Primary School section 1st place went to Kiaren Naidoo, 2nd place Tashiv Govender, 3rd place Jamie Evetts.

Here are the final results after round 5, for all the sections.

USSA Championship 2015

The South African University (USSA) Closed Chess Championship is taking place from the 23rd to 27th April 2015 at Wits University in Johannesburg. Unfortunately Nashlen Govindasamy declined his invitation, leaving Rahul Beekrum as the only KZN player in the tournament.

The games are being broadcast live by Tshwane chess, and all the tournament results are on the chess-results website. There are events for both men and women.

For more information on university chess in KZN please contact Divesh Sookdeo, who is both the arbiter and the tournament director for this event.

Chess at Albert Luthuli Museum

Coach Spa reports from Ilembe: The Albert Luthuli museum in Groutville hosted a rapid chess tournament on 11 April 2015. We had 64 participants consisting of junior and adult players from Kwadukuza and surrounding areas.

Proud winners of the Albert Luthulu rapid tournament

The Adult section was won by Phiwe Phakathi, 2nd was Siphelele Mbambo and 3rd Siyabonga Gumede .

The High School section was won by Lungelo Luthuli on a full score 7/7, 2nd was Banele Mboka and 3rd Sandile Hadebe.

The Senior Primary section was won by Zion Sewraj, 2nd was Minenhle Zikalala and 3rd Sandiso Zulu.

Here are the detailed results of the Luthuli rapid chess tournament.