Regular reports and commentary by:

Candidate Master Advocate Lyndon Bouah

A former Olympiad player, Candidate Master Lyndon has represented SA since 1992 at senior and junior level. He is the president of Chess Western Province and a lawyer by profession.

 

 



Stellenbosch Chess Club WP League Winners

In late August Chess Western Province convened and hosted a chess seminar entitled  Sport and Transformation with the emphasis on Health. Three speakers from the WP chess community presented their masters and doctoral theses and were well received by the audience. Thanks UWC and the Department of Sport Western Cape for making possible this venture. View the full report.

 

Dr van Wyk, Mr. Edwin Wyngaard, Dr Esau, Adv Bouah, WIM Frick

 

 

GM Reinderman won an FIDE rated event that bore his name in early August. View the results and photo's on the CHESSA web-site. Anant Dole won the Spring Open.
 
Congratulations to Jackie Fritz and Mark Lewis who managed and coached a junior team to Spain in early August. Tegan Fritz and Chante Ceasar played well and I hope they will have more opportunities to go play internationally. Thanks to the Dept of Sport Western Cape in contributing to this venture. Reports by Mark, as well as final standings available at SAJCA.

In early September WIM Anzel Solomons represented SA at the Women’s World Championships in Russia and scored a credible draw against the then World Champion GM Xu from China. Congratulations to Anzel. It is probably the first competitive draw a South African has made against a reigning world champion! View photo's, as well as interview with Anzel on Chess for All.

WIM Solomons at the World Champs 2008

 

The Chessa Interprovincial took place in Swellendam over the weekend of 28 September. WP sending a full strength Olympiad team romped home to victory. The team which consisted of IM Kenny Solomon, CM Donovan Van Den Heever, IM David Gluckman, Adv Maxwell Solomon and captained by CM Lyndon Bouah scored a massive 22 points out of 24! Kenny scored 5.5/6, Donny 5.5/6, David 4/4, Maxwell 5/6 and Lyndon 4/4. EP and Boland were third with 13.5 each. EP however beat Boland in their individual match. All five WP A players won their respective board prizes. The full results can be found on the Boland website.

Adv M. Solomon, IM D. Gluckman, CM D. Van Den Heever, IM K. Solomon and captain CM Lyndon Bouah

 

The B team captained by Remondo Solomon also retained their trophy with a good victory. Four of the players Craig Willenberg, Micheal James, Malcolm Fredericks and Shaun Brown all received Board prizes. EP came second in this section as well. B section results.

 

M. Fredericks, C. Willenberg, R. Solomons ( Captain), S. Brown, M. James with Mr. Henry Paulse from the Department of Sport.

 

WP is also pleased to report that we entered for the first time a WP Braille team. The team was managed by Taurique Jenkins. On The Friday afternoon of the departure one of the Braille players couldn’t get off work and Taurique ended up playing. He scored a full house of 4/4 thus also securing a board prize for himself and Braille. Congrats!

Ivor Wagner, Clyde Leonard, Taurique Jenkins ( manager) Melvin Lucas and MJ Terreblanche

 

 

Whilst all this was happening the joint WP Closed champion Mark Lewis was campaigning further a field in Pretoria at the SA Masters Chess Championship. He turned in a stunning victory with 5.5/6 and was crowned SA Masters Champion. Well done to Mark with his good form this year..

 

SA Masters Champion Mark Lewis

 

 

Still in Pretoria, Remondo Solomon coached a junior team from Welgemoed to second place at the National Top Schools in the primary school section. Well done Remondo and Welgemoed! Full results at SAJCA.

From the 1-4 October the ALL AGES GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP was held in Bellville at Settlers High School. The event was well organized by the Local Organising Committee under Dr Omar Esau and Mr. Deon Foster. The event had 8 provinces participating. The Western Cape Contingent dominated the event winning in all the categories. Well done to the players, coaches and managers. View full results.

On 4 October the WP Individual blitz championship took place at Settlers High School. The event was dominated by Steinitz players and was won jointly by CM Lyndon Bouah from Steinitz and Bryan Aguirre from Claremont.

While all the activity took place on Saturday 4 October IM Kenny Solomon and WIM Melissa Greeff quietly left the country to compete on behalf of South Africa at the Mind Games Championships in Beijing. I wish them well in climbing the Chinese wall. 

  WIM Melissa Greeff

 

 

 

 

 

Kenny Solomon

Webmaster: Breaking news. They have done very well. View blitz team results!

 

 

On Tuesday 7 October the WP Team Blitz champs took place at Goodwood library. Steinitz again dominated this event and won the event for the 13th time. The team was led by CM Lyndon Bouah and in board order was Calvin Klaasen, Dr Shabier Bhawoodien, Craig Willenberg and Kenny Willenberg. Claremont led by Charles De Villiers came second with Donovan van Den Heever leading Belhar Knights to a customary well deserved third spot.
 
The Mackie Memorial Championship takes place from 10-12 October 2008 at Claremont. This is a top event and attracts all the best WP players. Calvin Klaasen and possibly Kenny Solomon will defend their title.
 
On 18 October 2008 Clyde and Mildred Leonard will be leading the SA Braille team to the Braille Olympiad in Greece. Congrats to the team which consist of a number of WP players. The players are Melvin Lucas and Sam Isaacs. My sincere thanks to the Department of Sport Western Cape in assisting these spirited players and administrators to go to Greece.
 
I also take the opportunity to wish Malcolm Fredericks well in his first international coaching stint in Vietnam which will commence in late October. I know our SA players will do well and I wish them bon voyage. I know our players ably led by Anant Dole will do their best.     
 
The Chess Western Province Awards evening takes place on 30 October 2008. Here all the trophies for the past season will be handed out at the Wittebome Civic Centre. All clubs must have at least two representatives attending.
 
There will be a rapid event in early November at Claremont and one is planned for December at the Waterfront.
 
The Olympiad team under the stewardship of Chessa President Emelia Ellappen and Dr Esau leaves our shores in early November for Germany. I wish them all well in competing with the best in the world. WP is represented by IM Kenny Solomon, Boland by FM Henry Steel, and in the women’s team WIM Anzel Solomon, WIM Jenine Ellappen and WIM Melissa Greeff.
 
The National Club Championship commences on the 28th of November at UWC. A number of clubs have telephoned in already and entries are trickling in! So if you want the honour and prestige of being known as the best club in the country come on down to Cape Town and show your stuff! Click on the New Club Championship icon at top left for details.
 
In December WP will be hosting six visitors from the London chess league. There are two Women International Masters (one of whom will be representing England at the Dresden Olympiad) and four male players. It is the start of a reciprocal visit and is in the spirit of Gens Una Sumus. Various matches will be played against clubs in Boland and Western Province.
 
The junior players are all getting ready for the Nationals in Potchefstroom. On behalf of all the chess players, chess clubs and broader chess community we wish them all well.
 
Regards
 
Advocate Candidate Master Lyndon Bouah
8 October 2008