CHESS

I RECENTLY wrote about coaching with regard to the death of Mark Dvoretsky.

The director-general of sport in the Western Cape, Dr Lyndon Bouah writes on the ChessWP website: “I met Larry and Annick Bevand from Canada. Larry runs the biggest North American chess and math coaching programme. They employ over 100 coaches.

“I gave the couple a book on SA chess written by Leonard Rietstein and they in turn gave me three very interesting books. Please write to me with your suggestions so we can compile a top-10 list.

“I can be contacted on Lyndon. Bouah@gmail.com.” Queen of Katwe is a biograph- ical sports drama film directed by Mira Nair and written by William Wheeler.

Starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o and Madina Nalwanga, the film depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan chess prodigy who becomes a Woman Candidate Master after her performances at World Chess Olympiads.

The film had its South African premiere on October 6.

Nyong’o was born in Mexico City, to Kenyan parents, Dorothy and Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, a professor-turned-politician.

Nyong’o and her family moved back to Kenya when she was less than a year old, as her father was appointed a professor at the University of Nairobi.

She grew up in an artistic family, where get-togethers often included performances by the children.

She attended Rusinga International school in Kenya and acted in school plays. Nyong’o cites the performances of American actresses Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple with inspiring her to pursue a professional acting career.

She graduated from Hampshire College in the US with a degree in film and theatre studies.

The Womens’ World Champion, Hou Yifan of China, is fed up with Fidé. “I’m flexible with any formats of chess events. The thing I can’t agree with is that such a knockout tournament will decide who is the World Champion. A 64-player knock-out event is mostly a lottery: you play two games, and if you lose the first for some reason you have a good chance of being eliminated. “I was lucky in 2010 in Turkey, but in Khanty-Mansiysk I was knocked out by Monika Socko in round two. In the same round, top seeds Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk were also eliminated, all three by players rated 150 points lower.

“I do not see any point in continuing to play in an illogical and unfair system.”