Turfhall Primary: Phenomenal Chess Growth

In April 2012 Turfhall hosted a tournament for Chess Trials for schools and was at the same time inspired to open it's own chess club.

After seeking assistance from Chess Western Province with the direction from Mr Abdul Barday, the teacher in charge of Chess Miss Sene Van Heerden contacted me to assist in setting up a club at the school.

This is when I understood for the first time that my new name was Uncle! This is a respective way of the cape it seems to call your elderly males.

Anywhere we started with six players at the time and it slowly grew. It's amazing to see the support the sport drew from both parents and teachers.

To date in less than 12 months we have over 30 students in the club and its continuing to grow.

I would like to congratulate Turfhall for its initiative.

Chess growth in the Western Cape

Over the years with efforts from many people Chess has been growing in the Cape.

I just thought I would publish something brief on this phenomena. It became quite apparent to me as I had three invitations today to completely different chess activities.

There was a schools trials with a lot of kids battling it out, there was a group in Gugulethu playing and planning to Open a club and lastly I had an invitation from Steinitz chess club undoubtedly the most professional club in the country to attend their match against Alekhine Chess Club all the way from the eastern Cape. I was there for the firs match in which Steinitz triumphed with a score of 9-4, well done to them.

My realization in all this was that the Revolution that the MEC for Sports and Culture Dr Ivan Meyer launched March 2011 is now being realized in the Western Cape.

Chess Development Officer
Western Cape
Reuben Salimu

MRL Paradigm 2012

I am not a fan of chess variants usually because I struggle to master the one form I know. However it was with absolute pleasure this past week that I got introduced to the MRL Paradigm concept by Lourenzo Van Niekerk. 

Don't worry about the mechanics of how for now but what Lourenzo has created is quite unique and does not introduce some sort of luck intot the game. In all the tries I have done the stronger player should always win. There is one test I have not done and will do a follow up article once I am through with it. I had a lot of fun checking out the positions and considering the possibilities.

Lourenzo launched maiden event of the MRL Paradigm last year and is determined to keep the culture by continuing with a bigger and better one this year with all the participants in the event rated over 2000. It will be held in the Primi Piazza in Century city on the 27th and 28th of October.

I would like to put the positions which will comprise the MRL paradigm chess variant and get your feedback on them and what you think?

I look forward to your feedback.

Launching online Qualifications for the TV Show

African Chess Lounge has opened the qualifier to their TV show and anyone in Africa can register to take part on www.africanchesslounge.com under registration.

Qualification Procedure

Registration will give the participant four chances to play in a 9 round swiss game online.

The first two qualifiers will be our contestants on the live show, playing 2 Armageddon games live.

The Prizes

This is an exciting venture for us and we have quite a few legs that the competition links too.

The first leg and the biggest prize:

Weekly, we will draw a winner which will eventually make up the Final Armageddon Eight who will fight for the ultimate prize…an international tournament, all expenses paid including accommodation!

The two qualifiers will stand a chance through their efforts to win other prizes from the show sponsors. So no one walks away empty handed!

The second leg of the drive:

Online qualifiers have the fun of fighting for the following prizes too.

1st Prize R500

2nd Prize R400

3rd Prize R300

4th Prize R200

5th Prize R100

Aims of the TV Show

African Chess Lounge, as its main objective and steering, would like to create awareness and spin-off interests in the Game of Chess. Viewers will be entertained through speed chess, a fast paced production with intense fighting in the qualification rounds. Time is always a factor in chess… so expect a lot of upsets an ‘edge of your seat” moments.

The overall objective of the TV is to elevate the game of chess to the greater South African youth by using this medium to teach young children how to play the game of chess. Chess as a sport has been historically linked to the great minds in Mathematics, Analytics, Strategic thinking and much more. The inclusion of a mental sport to enhance the mathematical and numerical competencies of young minds with the technological advancements of media and communication is a natural progression for the sport. We will use the digital and communication platforms to increase awareness, reach and educate the population of South Africans who are looking toward international organisations for their guidance… we aim to bring them home and create a message of trust in abilities of fellow South Africans an in so doing, create South African Hero’s.

Donation to Youth Chess

On a developmental perspective African Chess Lounge will be injecting 20% of all registration fees towards development in Youth Chess via the various Unions under the Chessa blanket. When participants register they have a choice of Union that will benefit from this donation and support.

If this does not make you want to swap your Pawns for Kings,  go to www.africanchesslounge.com and check it out!

Ethnology Marketing and Communications

N Russon

PR and Marketing

SA Open 2012

 If the history of South Africa is in large part one of increasing racial divisiveness, today it can also be seen as the story of – eventually – a journey through massive obstacles towards the creation, from tremendous diversity, of a single nation whose dream of unity and common purpose is now capable of realisation. 

 

     This is the background on which the anual South African Open championship is held. 

     This year this illustrious event is being held in Cape Town, one of the most magnificent, aesthetic and wonderfulcity     in the world, home to one of the 7 wonders of the world, Table Mountain. 

The Cape Winelands

 They have 3 confirmed Grandmasters in the SA Open! They are in particular pleased to have GM Ahmed Adly joining them: he is one of Africa's strongest players and is the winner of both the African Junior and Senior titles.

GM Ahmed Adly

The event is being Organised by Chess Western Province under the auspices of Chess South Africa

Invitation

Chess South Africa and Chess Western Province cordially invites all chess players to participate in the

2012 South African Open Chess Championships.

Dates

Championships will commence on Friday 29th June 2012 and will conclude on Sunday 8 th July 2012.

The Championships will be hosted at the Newlands Stadium Convention Centre in the City of Cape

Town in Western Province, South Africa. 

Entries

All players wishing to enter the tournament must do so online via the official CHESSA tournament

website:

http://bit.ly/saopen2012

Entries officially close on 27th of June 2012 and acceptance of entries after this date will be subject to the

discretion of the tournament organisers.

Late entries will be considered up until 17.00 on Friday 29th June but must be accompanied by full

payment and will be subject to a late entry penalty of R100 for all sections. A table for late registrations

will be available at the playing venue between 14.00 and 17.00 on Friday 29th June. Players who have

not entered and paid before 17.00 on Friday 24 th June will miss the first round.

Tournament Schedule

The schedule for the tournament is as follows:

Date Activities

Friday 29th June

14.00 Late entry stand opens

17.00 Tournament entries close (no exceptions!)

17.45 Draw for round 1 posted

18.15 Players arrive to be seated for opening ceremony

18.30 Round 1

Saturday 30th June

08.30 Round 2

Sunday 1st July

09.30 Round 3

18.30 Round 4

Monday 2nd July

18.30 Round 5

Tuesday 3rd July

18.30 Round 6

Wednesday 4th July

14.00 – 17:00 SA Open Blitz (7 Round Swiss)

18.30 Round 7

Thursday 5th July

18.30 Round 8

Friday 6th July

18.30 Round 9

Saturday 7th July

15.00 Round 10

Sunday 8th July

10.00 Round 11

16.00 Prize giving

Transportation and Accommodation

Transportation options (airport shuttles and local transportation) and accommodation suggestions

(including hotels and in-house stays with fellow players) will be detailed on the official tournament

website in due course.

Questions

All questions relating to the tournament should be directed via e-mail to saopen2012@chessa.co.za or,

if urgent, to Mr Eldo Smart at +27 (0) 84 300 0728.

By Reuben Salimu

Tie break systems

I have just been chatting with the reknown South African FIDE arbiter and organiser Gunther van den Bergh who has written his own pairing program using the FIDE-approved Dutch System about tie-breaks.

He echoes what I have always said that tie-break systems are not an exact science. In my estimate they are about 90% accurate. At end of tournament many parents were at pains to understand the Berger system of the pairing program Swissperfect in the round-robin option.

He was the Chief Arbiter in the All Africa Games in Maputo last year and here is what he writes:

"Hi

Firstly, there is no perfect tiebreak system. All are flawed in some way.

If I have to use tie-breaks (for Individual Swiss tournaments). I use the following four systems (in the order listed with the first listed being the most important):

- Median Bucholz (a.k.a. Bucholz Cut).
This is the same as bucholz BUT deducting the highest and lowest opponent scores. This tries to correct for opponents who did not play all their games, etc.

- Median Bucholz 2
Same as above but deductin the two highest and two lowest opponent scores.

- Sonneborn Berger
Sum of the scores of the opponents you have beaten plus half the scores of the opponents you have drawn with.

Depending on the size of the tournament. If the tournament is large (with many players) then use the above 3 systems. If there are few players in the tournament, then just use normal Bucholz (that is, no deductions are made as in Median Bucholz).

For Round-Robin tournaments:
The following are the best systems just for Round-Robin tournaments. In order:
- Direct encounter (the results between the players with the same score).
- Sonneborn-Berger
- Koya (your results against players who scored 50% or more)
- Greatest number of wins

As mentioned, there is no perfect system - all systems are flawed. But, if you do decide to have tiebreaks, make sure that these (the tie-breaks to be used) are advertised (made known to the players) in advance (before the start of the tournament).

The best possible tiebreak for a round-robin is to have a play-off between the players tying for 1st place. Usually they play two rapid games and the winner is the one scoring 1.5 or two. If the scores are still tied, then they play two blitz games. If the scores are still tied they play one armageddon game (black declared the winner if the game is drawn).

Hope this helps.

Regards

Günther van den Bergh

Article by

John Mubaki

UGANDAN MASTERS PROVE THEIR WORTH

Candidate Master Patrick Kawuma was the biggest beneficiary from the last phase of the Olympiad Chess Qualifiers as he is destined to gain 41.4 points to improve on his current rating of 2168 to 2209. Similarly, another Candidate Master Bob Bibasa is set to gain 35.1, which will propel him from a rating of 2178 to 2213, making him the highest rated active Ugandan player.

The duo have strengthened their title credentials by catapulting themselves to the summit of the active rated player list ahead of veteran Grace Nsubuga (2197) and National Champion, Arthur Ssegwanyi (2178). 

On the other hand, FM Elijah Emojong still has an uphill task awaiting him if he has to reduce the rating gap between him and the two CMs. Emojong had the third biggest gain from the Qualifiers (of 36 points), elevating him from 2110 to 2146, a rather dismal rating for an FM. He however deserves a pat on the back for the manner in which he disposed off the Olympiad team pretenders. It was a performance with credentials to validate the long standing adage of separation of boys from men.

Rwabushenyi Memorial Champ and probably East Africa’s favourite, Harold Wanyama made a rather paltry gain of 19.5 to elevate himself from 2139 to 2158. Wanyama’s small gain may be attributed to the uncharacteristic mature display in the Qualifiers which saw him play much longer games than he is popularly known for.
Ex Olympians Shadrack Kantinti and Kenneth Kakooza are set to lose 11.7 from 2133 to 2122 and 66 points from 2176 to 2110 respectively. The other big loser is the most recent entrant on the FIDE rating list, Farouk Fauza who is set to lose a whooping 76 points from 2178 to 2002. Details of the upcoming changes are already on the FIDE website.

The Qualifiers Chief Arbiter, FA Stephen Kisuze attributes the disparities in the losses and gains to ill preparedness on the part of most participants and lack of strategy. According to him, a good strategy entails aiming at qualification plus rating points gain through avoiding losses to weaker opponents.

By  Vlanney Luggya