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:
Sunday 21 June 2015
Wednesday 3 June 2015
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.
Update: Umzinyathi district is also holding a tournament on Youth Day.
Labels:
entry form,
zululand
Saturday 30 May 2015
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.
Here is the notice and agenda for the ECA meeting.
Labels:
announcement
Monday 25 May 2015
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.
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.
Labels:
entry form,
ethekwini,
grand prix,
results,
youth
Thursday 21 May 2015
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 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:
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.
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.
The playing hall at Hoerskool Richardsbaai (arbiter in the corner) |
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 |
under 12 results,
under 14 results,
under 16 results,
under 20 results.
For more information, please contact Lisa Griffiths.
Tuesday 19 May 2015
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.
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.
Saturday 9 May 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.
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.
These are the final results of the A section and the final results of the B section.
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 |
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.
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 |
Monday 4 May 2015
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.
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.
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 |
Here are the final results after round 5, for all the sections.
Friday 24 April 2015
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.
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.
Labels:
university
Saturday 18 April 2015
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.
Dolphin Coast - new club
Press Release.
The Dolphin Coast Chess Club has been launched and one of our local chess coaches, Siphamandla Nkosi, has qualified as the first chess arbiter in the Ilembe district.
Nkosi,
known to his players as Coach Spa, has been involved in chess for 12
years and has been coaching the Umhlali Preparatory chess players and
all Senior Primary pupils for the past 10
years. His recent qualification ensures that our local tournaments
can qualify as rated tournaments. This is a huge advantage for our
local players as it offers them the opportunity to play skilled
players and challenges them to improve the level of their game.
The
Dolphin Coast Chess Club is a new initiative to encourage chess
players (beginners to masters) to participate competitively in the
Ilembe district. The Dolphin Coast Chess Club will be run as a club
to ensure minimum expenses to the members. An annual membership fee
will ensure that the players receive three rated tournaments per year
and that the club will be able to accumulate chess equipment. Two Swiss format tournaments are also planned for the year.
Our
vision is to create a respected club of high calibre chess players
that are passionate for the game and to encourage and develop new
players of all ages.
The
Chess Club will meet at Umhlali Preparatory School on Wednesday
evenings during the school term. For more information, please email Kerry or phone her on 0711436466.
Labels:
announcement,
ilembe
Monday 13 April 2015
Three SA junior champions!!
KZN has got three new national champions!! Congratulations to Shivar Gopaulsingh, the under 16 open champion, to Ananta Reddy, the under 14 open champion, and to Karmishta Moodley, the under 12 girls champion. Shivar won his gold medal after defeating Justin Lynch 2-0 in a playoff match. In addition, Naseem Essa won the silver medal in the under 12 open division, and Aarti Datharam received the bronze in the under 10 girls competition.
The SA Junior Closed chess championships took place at Waterkloof High School in Pretoria from 4th to 10th April 2015. I hadn't been to Waterkloof High School before. It was a great venue for SA's top junior competition, easily accessible and with lots of space for everybody.
I was invited to be one of the two deputy chief arbiters. After driving from Durban to Pretoria on the 3rd, my first appointment was an arbiters meeting in the late afternoon, when we met to discuss the final tournament rules, venue set up and so on. The school hall was not big enough to accommodate all 278 players, so the top boards in all age groups, except for under 8's, played upstairs near the auditorium. We had 108 players upstairs, with about half of these games played on DGT boards, which transmitted the moves live over the internet for everybody to see.
The first round on the 4th was chaotic. Both myself and Fransie Grobbelaar, the other deputy chief arbiter, stayed upstairs with the top players, with the other arbiters downstairs in the main hall. In addition to resolving disputes between the top players, we were expected to record the results for the top players and check the results submitted by age group arbiters. It was simply unworkable! We decided that from round 2 all score keeping would be done downstairs. We also agreed that Fransie would move downstairs and supervise the majority of the games and arbiters. My KZN colleague Divesh Sookdeo moved upstairs as he was the arbiter of the under 16 boys section, and we also later enlisted Henro van der Westhuizen to our team for the top boards. Once this was done, we were able to resolve everything at the board and had no more appeals affecting the top players.
Well, that's enough background information for now. I had a ringside seat to most of the top games and will write more about the tournament in later posts. Here is a link to the official SAJCCC website and here is a link to the under 18 results page, from which you can navigate to all the other age group results.
Shivar, Ananta and Karmishta |
I was invited to be one of the two deputy chief arbiters. After driving from Durban to Pretoria on the 3rd, my first appointment was an arbiters meeting in the late afternoon, when we met to discuss the final tournament rules, venue set up and so on. The school hall was not big enough to accommodate all 278 players, so the top boards in all age groups, except for under 8's, played upstairs near the auditorium. We had 108 players upstairs, with about half of these games played on DGT boards, which transmitted the moves live over the internet for everybody to see.
The first round on the 4th was chaotic. Both myself and Fransie Grobbelaar, the other deputy chief arbiter, stayed upstairs with the top players, with the other arbiters downstairs in the main hall. In addition to resolving disputes between the top players, we were expected to record the results for the top players and check the results submitted by age group arbiters. It was simply unworkable! We decided that from round 2 all score keeping would be done downstairs. We also agreed that Fransie would move downstairs and supervise the majority of the games and arbiters. My KZN colleague Divesh Sookdeo moved upstairs as he was the arbiter of the under 16 boys section, and we also later enlisted Henro van der Westhuizen to our team for the top boards. Once this was done, we were able to resolve everything at the board and had no more appeals affecting the top players.
Well, that's enough background information for now. I had a ringside seat to most of the top games and will write more about the tournament in later posts. Here is a link to the official SAJCCC website and here is a link to the under 18 results page, from which you can navigate to all the other age group results.
Thursday 2 April 2015
KZN open 25-27 April
The Durban Chess Club has now sent us the entry form for their annual KZN Open championships. With over R15 000 in prize money, it is well worth entering! The championships will be split into two sections, with section B restricted to junior players rated under 1400.
For more information, here is the 2015 KZN open entry form (pdf). Alternatively, here is a link to the online entry form.
For more information, here is the 2015 KZN open entry form (pdf). Alternatively, here is a link to the online entry form.
Labels:
entry form,
ethekwini
Tuesday 31 March 2015
1st Uthungulu Anniversary
The Uthungulu district celebrated its first birthday in style, with a massive birthday cake!
Lastly, here are the results for each of the age groups:
under 12 results,
under 14 results,
under 16 results,
under 20 results.
Chairperson Lisa Griffiths with the birthday cake |
The children gather around the cake |
The Uthungulu Committee |
Of course, there was also a chess tournament to be held, with no fewer than 168 participants competing over 2 days, at Hoerskool Richardsbaai. Here is a picture of the Uthungulu chess family:
Lastly, here are the results for each of the age groups:
under 12 results,
under 14 results,
under 16 results,
under 20 results.
Wednesday 25 March 2015
Autumn series 21-22 March
The Autumn series organised by Glenwood Chess Club was surprisingly won by the second seed, Lulama Qobo, with 4.5 points from his 5 games. Surprising, as he almost lost his first round game against Michael Fu, going 2 pawns down in a Queen and Rook ending. However, Fu blundered into a mate in one, after which Lulama never looked back.
The top seed, Joseph Mwale, had a moment of chess blindness in his round 3 game against Naseem Essa. This was the position, after about 20 moves, with Essa defending:
Play continued 1.Rxd8+ Rxd8 2.Nf6+ Bxf6 3.Rxf6 Rd1+ and now the appalling 4.Kf2?? lost to the skewer 4... Bh3 5.g4 Rf1+ 6.Kg3 Rxf6 7.Kxh3 Re6 8.Nf3 Qe7 and Black soon won. Either 4.Kg2 or 4.Rf1 gave White a small edge. In the post-mortem Joseph suggested 1.Rde1 and I liked 1.Rd3, in both cases 1... Bf5 can be met by 2.Nxf7 in White's favour.
The game of the tournament was undoubtedly Mwale vs Danisa, played in the last round. The tactical mastery shown by Joseph was extremely impressive:
Here are the final results of 2015 Autumn series.
The top seed, Joseph Mwale, had a moment of chess blindness in his round 3 game against Naseem Essa. This was the position, after about 20 moves, with Essa defending:
Joseph Mwale vs Naseem Essa |
The game of the tournament was undoubtedly Mwale vs Danisa, played in the last round. The tactical mastery shown by Joseph was extremely impressive:
Here are the final results of 2015 Autumn series.
Thursday 19 March 2015
1st Loxion championship
Report by Mbongeni Sithole, Head Coach of the eThekwini Chess Association:-
We would like to thank everyone who made this tournament a success. The 1st Loxion Chess Championship 2015 was held at Maphumuzane
Primary School in Umlazi's B section on the 7th of March 2015. This
tournament was the first of its kind, a team event with more than 10
township Chess clubs taking part in a 5 round Swiss. There were more
than 100 kids attending but most became spectators because we had reached the carrying capacity of the venue. The turn up at this tournament showed us that
chess in the townships is alive and well. It just needs the community to
stand up and structure it, so that the kids will have maximum
opportunities to showcase their talent at district and provincial
levels.
Champions - Mtoyedwa Chess Club with coach Cyril Danisa |
2nd Place- Lamontville Chess Club |
Best Junior Club - Mondli Mkhize's Umlazi North Chess Club |
3rd Place - the Wang Hoa Stars |
Best Girls Club - Chess Stars Girls |
Five kids who took part in this tournament were invited to
participate in the upcoming SAJCCC (South African Junior Closed Chess
Championship) where they will be fighting for their right to
represent the country. They are Khulekani Danisa, Anele Danisa, Nosipho Mkhize, Nobuhle Ndunakazi and Sphelele Makhanya.
But all their dream could just become exactly that, a dream, if they
don't come up with the sum of about R 5 000 each to cover registration
as well as travelling costs to this tournament which will be held in
Waterkloof, Pretoria from the 3rd to 10th of April this year.
We
would like to appeal to anyone who is willing and able to assist with
any amount towards covering their costs for the SAJCCC tournament. It is every
junior's dream to take part in this tournament as it's the last step towards
representing South Africa.
For more information, contact Mbongeni Sithole.
Update (31st March). Thanks to Analog-SA for their pledge of R5 000, and all the individual sponsors who have chosen to remain anonymous, the 5 players will be leaving for Pretoria on Thursday night.
Update (31st March). Thanks to Analog-SA for their pledge of R5 000, and all the individual sponsors who have chosen to remain anonymous, the 5 players will be leaving for Pretoria on Thursday night.
Wednesday 18 March 2015
Coaching workshops in KZN
Sandile Xulu reports that, for the very first time, KZN will have a database of Chess Coaches in all 11 districts.
KZN
Chess Association has just completed launching the CHESS COACHES
ASSOCIATION in all 11 districts. A move to train coaches was warmly
welcomed by district associations as this will help improve their
competitiveness when it comes to provincial tournaments.
UTHUKELA Coaches showing off their garden chess set in the
city of LADYSMITH
|
LISA GRIFFITHS (in red) with her enthusiastic team of UTHUNGULU Coaches
|
LULAMA QOBO training from the podium at LUTHULI Museum in ILEMBE
District
|
AMAJUBA Coaches embraced the KZNCA Vision 2015 of ’50
clubs’
|
CHESS
moves into the council chamber in LADYSMITH
|
Chess is making inroads at
the heart of the ZULU KINGDOM
|
At Shisanyama in Bhekuzulu township, VRYHEID, chess is played while
listening to some good music...
|
UMZINYATHI
Coaches learning a new way to teach chess
|
LULAMA QOBO demonstrating a few coaching lessons in DUNDEE
|
February was an extremely busy month for the facilitators. Altogether, a total of 130 coaches were trained throughout 11 districts and this training took place every weekend from 14th February to 1st March 2015.
SANDILE XULU ‘teaching’ LULAMA QOBO a few blitz lessons over breakfast in VRYHEID
|
OXFORD
GUEST HOUSE hosted the facilitators with warm hands in VRYHEID
|
Sunday 15 March 2015
KZNCA AGM announced
Announcement from Sandile Xulu, the President of KZN Chess Association, concerning their Annual General Meeting for 2015:
"On behalf of KZNCA, I hereby inform all member Districts of KZNCA to attend the provincial AGM to be held on 18-19 April 2015 in Durban, the venue is Coastlands (corner of Pixley Ka Seme & Mahatma Gandhi Roads).
District Chairpersons or Secretaries are required to submit two names of their District Executive Members (District Officials) who will attend the AGM on behalf of their District Association. Names must be submitted to me by NO LATER than Wednesday 18 March 2015.
The AGM will run an extended program which begins on Saturday 18 April and continues on Sunday 19 April. A timetable/program will be sent in due course with the Agenda of the AGM."
For more information, contact Sandile Xulu.
Labels:
announcement
Tournaments in March
We have received entry forms for the following events:
1) Ethekwini district: Glenwood CC Autumn series on 21-22 March
2) Ilembe district: Crawford North Coast Rapid event on 28 March
3) Uthungulu district: Richards Bay Anniversary tournament on 28-29 March
All of these events will be rated by Chess SA. Further details can be found in the entry forms.
1) Ethekwini district: Glenwood CC Autumn series on 21-22 March
2) Ilembe district: Crawford North Coast Rapid event on 28 March
3) Uthungulu district: Richards Bay Anniversary tournament on 28-29 March
All of these events will be rated by Chess SA. Further details can be found in the entry forms.
Labels:
entry form,
ethekwini,
ilembe,
uthungulu
Friday 13 March 2015
Fischer memorial rapid 2015
Durban Chess Club hosted a one day Open rapid tournament on Saturday, 7th March 2015 in memory of the late Robert James Fischer, whose birthday was on 9th March. The event was held at Northlands Senior Primary School in Durban North.
As defending champion, I felt obliged to participate, but was completely off form, finishing with 4 wins, 2 draws and a patzer loss to top seed Joseph Mwale. My only consolation was a particularly nice combination in round 2 against Chad Blomeyer, who went on to share the prize for the best under 16 player. This was the position with Black to move:
With time running low, Chad pinned the Knight with 26... Rd8 threatening 27... e5. However, White can ignore the threat, and play continued 27. c6! Rbc8 28.c7 Rd7 and now 29.Nf5!! leaves 2 of my 3 pieces en prise, but wins the game after 29... Rxd3 30.Ne7+ Kf8 31.Nxc8 e5 32.Nb6 Be6 33.c8=Q+ Bxc8 34.Rxc8+ Ke7 35.Nxa4 etc. My subsequent home analysis showed that 26... e5 27.Nf5 Rc7 28.c6 Rbc8 29.Rdc3 Kf8 was about equal.
The winner was 3-time Durban champion Bongani Mgaga, who scored 6½ points from his 7 games. Along the way, Bongani had a very lucky escape against Paul Curry in round 3.
With about 90 seconds left on the clock, Paul reached for his Rook and the audience held their breath, expecting him to play 1... Rxh3+ 2.gxh3 Qg1 mate, but Paul placed the Rook on e7 and Bongani somehow managed to draw the game. Bongani's other key game was his round 6 win against 2nd placed Joseph Mwale, with castling on opposite sides of the board followed by a crushing attack on the black King. Also on 6 points, but placed 3rd on tie-break, was Petros Ntombela.
Here are the detailed results of the Fischer memorial rapid.
As defending champion, I felt obliged to participate, but was completely off form, finishing with 4 wins, 2 draws and a patzer loss to top seed Joseph Mwale. My only consolation was a particularly nice combination in round 2 against Chad Blomeyer, who went on to share the prize for the best under 16 player. This was the position with Black to move:
Rust vs Blomeyer, after White's 26th move |
The winner was 3-time Durban champion Bongani Mgaga, who scored 6½ points from his 7 games. Along the way, Bongani had a very lucky escape against Paul Curry in round 3.
Mgaga vs Curry with Black to move |
Here are the detailed results of the Fischer memorial rapid.
Tuesday 3 March 2015
Max Euwe memorial 2015
The 2015 Max Euwe memorial took place on the weekend of 21st/22nd February at Berea Primary School in Durban. The playing schedule was a grueling 7 rounds of 60/60 over 2 days, so I opted to watch some games instead of playing. There were 61 players, headed by the hot favourite, visiting master Rodwell Makoto of Zimbabwe.
Listening to introductory remarks from the organisers
|
Mkhwanazi (1417) vs Takawira (2052) |
From the diagram play continued 1.Bb1+ Kxf4 2.Bxg6 Be8 3.Bb1 Ke5 4.e7 Ke6 5.Kd4 Kxe7 6.Kc3 Ke6 7.Kxb2 and a draw was soon agreed. Afterwards I asked Erick how he would meet 4.Ba2 and he gave 4...Kf4 to which I replied 5.Kd6 Kg4 6.Ke7 Bg6 7.Kf6 Be8 8.g6 and White wins. After reflecting on this, Erick then found 4...b1=Q! 5.Bxb1 Kxe6 and Black draws because he can sacrifice his Bishop for the g-pawn and the h-pawn is the wrong colour to win.
Not so lucky was Bongani Mgaga in his last round encounter with Shivar Gopaulsingh. After catching his opponent out in the opening, he allowed Shivar back into the game, despite having a 20 minute time advantage. From the diagram play continued 1...Qb6+ 2.Kh1 Rd3 3.Qc2?? Rxg3 and Bongani played a few more moves before resigning. My computer gives 3.Qb2 as equal, whilst I was expecting 3.Qc5 from Bongani.
Not so lucky was Bongani Mgaga in his last round encounter with Shivar Gopaulsingh. After catching his opponent out in the opening, he allowed Shivar back into the game, despite having a 20 minute time advantage. From the diagram play continued 1...Qb6+ 2.Kh1 Rd3 3.Qc2?? Rxg3 and Bongani played a few more moves before resigning. My computer gives 3.Qb2 as equal, whilst I was expecting 3.Qc5 from Bongani.
Mgaga (1701) vs Gopaulsingh (1776) |
Pictured below is KZN veteran Cyril Thanda Danisa (right) and his student Nobuhle Ndunakazi, followed by a photo of the tournament winner, Rodwell Makoto.
Here are the final results of the tournament.
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