Chess South Africa

Notices

FIDE Online World Cadets & Youth Rapid Chess Championships 2020/11/25 Chess SA Congratulations to the following players who have been selected to represent Chess South Africa at the FIDE Online World Cadets 2020. Watch video
In order for Regions/Provinces/Clubs to have OTB Tournaments 2020/10/12 Chess SA In order for Regions/Provinces/Clubs to have OTB Tournaments they need to do the following: Read through the Chess SA Covid ready document. Appoint Compliance officer - the appointment form can be downloaded below. Fill out the online application form and upload the necessary documents. Enjoy your Tournament. Download all documents COMPLETE THE ONLINE APPLICATION FORM
Chess SA Online Regulations - Regulations for rating online chess tournaments 2020/07/17 Chess SA The Covid-19 outbreak has had a serious impact on all sport activities in the world and chess is no exception. It is not only the game that has been suffering, but the entire chess eco system is taking a beating. Coaches and professional players have no income. Regions, Provinces and Chess SA has also not escaped this lack of opportunity to generate income. Most importantly, our players are not able to practice and improve their game. The chess eco system cannot function effectively without games being rated. To get the Chess SA eco system going again, Chess SA has assembled a committee to investigate the possibility of including online chess games in the Chess SA Rating system and this document is the result of the investigation. Read more

FIDE Online World Cadets & Youth Rapid Chess Championships

2020/11/25
Chess SA

Congratulations to the following players who have been selected to represent Chess South Africa at the FIDE Online World Cadets 2020.
Watch video

In order for Regions/Provinces/Clubs to have OTB Tournaments

2020/10/12
Chess SA

In order for Regions/Provinces/Clubs to have OTB Tournaments they need to do the following:

Read through the Chess SA Covid ready document.
Appoint Compliance officer - the appointment form can be downloaded below.
Fill out the online application form and upload the necessary documents.
Enjoy your Tournament.

Download all documents
COMPLETE THE ONLINE APPLICATION FORM

Chess SA Online Regulations - Regulations for rating online chess tournaments

2020/07/17
Chess SA

The Covid-19 outbreak has had a serious impact on all sport activities in the world and chess is no exception. It is not only the game that has been suffering, but the entire chess eco system is taking a beating. Coaches and professional players have no income. Regions, Provinces and Chess SA has also not escaped this lack of opportunity to generate income. Most importantly, our players are not able to practice and improve their game.

The chess eco system cannot function effectively without games being rated. To get the Chess SA eco system going again, Chess SA has assembled a committee to investigate the possibility of including online chess games in the Chess SA Rating system and this document is the result of the investigation.

Paradigm Chess30 2020/09/28 Craig Willenberg and Lourenzo van Niekerk The Paradigm Chess30 concept is an enhancement of MRL Chess Paradigm. The MRL Chess Paradigm concept was originally introduced to minimise the excessive number of draws, which occur in normal (classical) chess. With its set eight starting positions (derived from Fisher Random Chess) together with the applicable dynamic rules ("anti-draws"), the MRL Chess Paradigm concept encouraged chess players to display their strategical creativity, especially in the opening phase of the game. The MRL Chess Paradigm version of the game made for many an exciting duel between chess players, which magnified the need for principled play in chess. Read more
North-West University Chess Cub 2020/05/02 Natalie Thysse The North-West University (NWU), Potchefstroom campus Chess club is about influencing people to enjoy the game of kings and queens. One of the best chess players from the NWU Potchefstroom campus is Marcques Hansen. Hansen competed in 12 South African Junior Chess Championships and five South African Junior Closed Championships. The NWU Potchefstroom campus Chess team also competed in the 2019 University Sports South African (USSA) competition where Hansen achieved 9th place. As second-year BEd Intermediate phase student, Hansen, believes that the best part about competing is the challenge of each game, the people you meet and the ultimate thrill of the results after a complicated position in the game. "What matters is the knowledge you gain from every game, does not matter if you win or lose," Hansen said. Read more
UCT Chess Club 2020/02/10 Ursula Hardie It is with much pride that I can state that the Cape in many ways dominated USSA this year. UWC and UCT, though outshone by the highly trained TUTS (UP) players, in terms of numbers and growing strength the WP dominated South African University Chess in 2019. Shaheed has already made an article on the results and overall experience of the USSA `19, so I will try to add a few more comments focused on player upsets, the Blitz etc. USSA is a tournament that is difficult to predict due to ratings. For many universities this is one of the only tournaments that their players get to perform in. Hence, upsets and underestimation of lower rated players is prolific. For UCT this has caused pain for both the club and the other teams... but predominantly in favour of UCT. Read more
Lecture of Grandmaster Levon Aronian 2020/02/07 Dr Lyndon Bouah On the 10th of January 2020 I attended a Masterclass presented by Grandmaster Levon Aronian. The event was held in the lovely setting of the University Museum in Stellenbosch. Players came from Cape Town and the areas surrounding Stellenbosch to hear the super grandmaster Levon Aronian who is currently the number 6 in the world. Grandmaster Aronian was wearing a Madiba shirt when he presented the lecture. Grandmaster Aronian is from Armenia. Armenia is a country situated close to Russia and has a population of about 3 million people. The capital city is Yerevan. The most famous Armenian player before Aronian was the 1963 world champion Tigran Petrosian. Read more

Paradigm Chess30

2020/09/28
Craig Willenberg and Lourenzo van Niekerk

The Paradigm Chess30 concept is an enhancement of MRL Chess Paradigm. The MRL Chess Paradigm concept was originally introduced to minimise the excessive number of draws, which occur in normal (classical) chess.

With its set eight starting positions (derived from Fisher Random Chess) together with the applicable dynamic rules ("anti-draws"), the MRL Chess Paradigm concept encouraged chess players to display their strategical creativity, especially in the opening phase of the game. The MRL Chess Paradigm version of the game made for many an exciting duel between chess players, which magnified the need for principled play in chess.

North-West University Chess Cub

2020/05/02
Natalie Thysse

The North-West University (NWU), Potchefstroom campus Chess club is about influencing people to enjoy the game of kings and queens.

One of the best chess players from the NWU Potchefstroom campus is Marcques Hansen. Hansen competed in 12 South African Junior Chess Championships and five South African Junior Closed Championships. The NWU Potchefstroom campus Chess team also competed in the 2019 University Sports South African (USSA) competition where Hansen achieved 9th place. As second-year BEd Intermediate phase student, Hansen, believes that the best part about competing is the challenge of each game, the people you meet and the ultimate thrill of the results after a complicated position in the game. "What matters is the knowledge you gain from every game, does not matter if you win or lose," Hansen said.

UCT Chess Club

2020/02/10
Ursula Hardie

It is with much pride that I can state that the Cape in many ways dominated USSA this year. UWC and UCT, though outshone by the highly trained TUTS (UP) players, in terms of numbers and growing strength the WP dominated South African University Chess in 2019.

Shaheed has already made an article on the results and overall experience of the USSA `19, so I will try to add a few more comments focused on player upsets, the Blitz etc.

USSA is a tournament that is difficult to predict due to ratings. For many universities this is one of the only tournaments that their players get to perform in. Hence, upsets and underestimation of lower rated players is prolific. For UCT this has caused pain for both the club and the other teams... but predominantly in favour of UCT.

Lecture of Grandmaster Levon Aronian

2020/02/07
Dr Lyndon Bouah

On the 10th of January 2020 I attended a Masterclass presented by Grandmaster Levon Aronian. The event was held in the lovely setting of the University Museum in Stellenbosch. Players came from Cape Town and the areas surrounding Stellenbosch to hear the super grandmaster Levon Aronian who is currently the number 6 in the world. Grandmaster Aronian was wearing a Madiba shirt when he presented the lecture.

Grandmaster Aronian is from Armenia. Armenia is a country situated close to Russia and has a population of about 3 million people. The capital city is Yerevan.

The most famous Armenian player before Aronian was the 1963 world champion Tigran Petrosian.

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