Chess protégé receives her honours cum laude blazer

Grade 12 learner at Crawford Ruimsig, Kerri-Ann Naicker recently was presented with an honours Cum Laude blazer in chess. This comes after Kerri-Ann received her South African colours in the sport.

The 17-year-old said she is proud to represent the country and has been receiving numerous compliments. “I didn’t expect to get it so early but it’s an amazing achievement.” She started playing chess in 2015 and a year later she began competing. “My brother always played chess and he was really good at it. In tournaments I would be that sister just walking around and waiting for my brother to finish,” she began. “My mom said instead of wasting time, I could just play with him and then I started entering tournaments.”

Eventually she got her own coach and started not only competing but winning. “When I started competing I wasn’t taking it that seriously. I was just playing chess for fun, whereas my brother was like ‘I have to win this otherwise I am going to go 20 places lower in the ranking’. I was just there for the prizes because little kids would get sweets as prizes. Eventually when it got more serious, you would get prize money.”

She and her brother may have a friendly rivalry in the game but she admitted that she always lost against him. “If we are playing in blitz matches, which are five minutes on each other and we don’t really have time to think, then I would beat him sometimes. He’s always been better at chess than I am,” she smiled.

Kerri-Annr described herself as strategic and enjoys the numerous scenarios she can easily explore during a game of chess. “The longest match I have played was six hours and I am known for thinking about one move for 30 minutes. My mind just goes on a drift and I love that feeling.” It is often said that the game of chess is a lot like life; quick decisions can have dire consequences in the long run. “I think about life like that,” Kerri-Ann revealed. “When I play chess, I analyse it so much because I am so uncertain about things. Right now I am so uncertain about what I want to do when I grow up. I think of so many variations when I am playing chess that I can’t make one single decision.” She said even when she feels stressed or overwhelmed she opens her phone to play chess and forgets everything.

When she is not calculating her next move, she is dancing. “I am aiming to be in the South African team for dancing this year. I train more in dancing than I do in chess, like five times a week after school. I really like dancing and it’s the same with chess; I go into a different universe and forget about life for a bit.”

Although she now represents her country in chess she is unsure about pursuing it further after high school. She said once she has found the degree she wants to study, she will most likely pursue that subject, “… but right now I am still playing chess. It keeps my mind fresh.”