It is all about the right moves
It was a matter of "come rain, come shine, we will play chess" at this past weekend's second chess tournament for the year hosted by Sabie Primary.
While 116 players battled it out for the top spots, the tournament was even more special because it had a separate girls section in each of the categories. “Our aim is to increase female participation in our chess tournaments and we are very pleased with the numbers thus far. We would like to thank Sabie Primary for hosting the tournament and a special mention must be made of Thato Mathebula of Sabie Primary, who is also the head of schools chess of Ehlanzeni Chess. Sabie Primary is very active in chess development and Ehlanzeni Chess feeds off the potential that they recognise and foster,” said secretary: Ehlanzeni Chess Federation, Karen Taljaard.
An open tournament is much more challenging for younger players as u/14 players who have achieved Ehlanzeni colours, u/16, u/18 and u/20 players competing against seasoned, highly skilled senior chess players.
It is very daunting for a 12-year-old to play chess against a grown-up, but they stepped up to the plate and gave it their all. The senior players had to keep their whit’s about them but in the end, they reigned supreme. The same goes for the B-section where u/8, u/10 and u/12 players compete against u/14 players (who have not been awarded Ehlanzeni Chess colours). The u/8’s did not let the older players intimidate them and they showed them they are a force to be reckoned with. The method behind this madness is to expose the pupils to higher levels of chess to grow their abilities. “We strive to achieve chess excellence and this is one way of doing so,” concluded Taljaard.
