TuksChess hosted their first ever Open Rated Tournament on the 19-20 August 2016 since it’s re-establishment in 2010. The TuksChess Inaugural Open Rated Tournament was hosted at the Groenkloof Campus Sports Hall. Players came in their numbers from Tshwane, Johannesburg and some as far as Potchefstroom. Eighty-five chess players participated in the tournament. The tournament was CHESSA rated and participants played over 6 rounds with time controls of 60 min per player. There were three sections (Section A, Section B and Section C).  The Tournament was organised by the TuksChess Chairperson Godfrey Kgatle and officiated by some of the top Gauteng arbiters, Fransie Grobbelaar (Chief arbiter), Lelanie van der Westhuizen (arbiter), Ruan Steenkamp (computing) and Carlia Venter.

Section A players needed to have a rating from 1300 and above. Two International Masters (IM) Daniel Jere and Johannes Mabusela graced the event and participated in section A.  IM’s are second-ranked chess players in world after Grand Masters. Daniel has a rating of 2363 while Johannes Mabusela with a rating of 2244 who can be rated as the finest players in the country. There are only three IMs in South Africa. Amongst the top players in Section A was Roland Bezuidenhout who studies at the University of Pretoria and is a TuksChess player. Roland is a Fide Master (FM) with a rating 2049 and recently won the u/20 Commonwealth Championship in Sri Lanka in July 2016.  Varden Trevelyn (aged 14) was another FM who got his title by winning the African Youth Chess Championships in 2012 at the age of 10.

Section B catered for players with ratings from 600 to 1299, while Section C had an age restriction of 11. These two Sections are generally for players that still need coaching and are more in the chess development phase. While many sports sections are determined by age, chess sections are determined by chess rating which players get by winning rated tournaments such as the TuksChess Open. This is why there were few games where a 10-year-old girl would win against a 40-year-old man.

The Prize pool of the tournament was R10 000.00 with the top three players receiving prizes. The winners of Section C were mainly TuksChess Junior players with young lady Kayliegha Weideman taking first place, followed by Keanan Fouries and Yoshua Smit. Section B winners were Gerhardus Bekker, David Lubbe and Daniel Wohlfarht. The winners of Section A were IM Daniel Jere, FM Roland Bezuidenhout and IM Johannes Mabusela and Jacqui Grobbelaar was awarded a prize of being the Best Lady.  Three of the TuksChess Junior players (Lehan Koning, Henco and Jane Malan) could not make to the tournament as they are curently representing the u/8 South African Chess team at the African Youth Chess Championships in Port Elizabeth.

The attendance of players was highly appreciated as this was a good learning game for many of the upcoming players. The general comments of the players were that the tournament was hosted at a lovely venue and it was a high-quality tournament that was well organised and sure did give them ample opportunity to learn. The next TuksChess major tournament will be at the University of the Western Cape in December for the University of Sports South Africa Chess Championships.

TuksChess would like to thank all their sponsors and support structures such as TuksSport, TuksRes, Sci-Enza, UP-SRC, Tshwane Chess, Department of University Relations and Mrs. Lucille Weyer (Groenkloof Facilities Manager). Next year’s TuksChess Open will be one of South Africa’s most popular annual tournaments. The TuksChess Open 2016 provided players with a platform where they interacted with each other regardless of their age and background while they also engaged and tapped into their intellect. This is why chess is considered chess to be a holistic and dual benefitting sport.