Bay youngsters off to chess champs
Fourteen young Nelson Mandela Bay Chess Union players will take part in the Southern African Junior Championship in Gauteng next week.
The five-day event will run from April 27 to May 1 and is a crucial stepping stone towards earning national colours, granting players the opportunity to represent SA in international and African games.
NMB Chess Union chair Mninawa Peter was confident the team would excel.
“This is called a tournament, which means you play by invitation only,” Peter said.
“And that invitation comes because you have qualified through playing a minimum of 30 games and you are topranked in individual age groups ranging from U8 to U20.
“In each age group, the best 15 players from all over SA are selected to compete.
“So these players who are going are in the top 15 [in their age groups] in the country.
“The Nelson Mandela Bay Chess Union has managed to produce these 14 players who are selected among the best in the country in different age groups.
“From there, if they do well and reach the top 10 in the event, they will be given Chess SA colours and if they reach the top three, they will be awarded Springbok or national colours.
“They will then proceed to the next level to represent SA at the Africa Youth Championships in June.”
Peter said the competition would test the skills they had crafted against top-rated chess provinces like the Western Cape and Gauteng. Competition would be tough, but he remained confident.
“We have two candidate masters and two women international masters. So we have shown that from a chess development perspective we are a formidable team who can fight their way.
“So I am confident that some of these kids are going to go all the way and represent SA in the African Youth Chess Championships,” he said.
The team is: Mnico Peter, Amelie Kapp, Sebastian Kapp, Chelsea Nell, Enrique Aljay Claassen, Morgan Celliers, Neathan Peter, Spiro Clainos, Adrian Kritzinger, Samuel Driscoll, Jaden Chipunza, Noah Peter and Ismaeel Lagardien.