The Uitenhage Chess tournament was established in 2004 as part of Uitenhage’s 200th birthday celebrations. From 2004 – 2010, the tournament was organised by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s Uitenhage Library in cooperation with Drostdy Chess Club. Elizabeth Müller (from the Uitenhage library) and Ria Diedericks (from the Drostdy Chess Club) were the organisers at the time.
The 2012 Uitenhage Chess Festival is being organised once again by Elizabeth and Ria, joined by Elsa Daniell. They have managed to secure many more prizes than in previous years and expect the tournament to have the best turnout this far.
Local Uitenhage son, Ramon Thomas from Netucation and who also runs the Uitenhage blog has donated chess related DVD’s, books and chess boards as prizes and is challenging other businesses to assist by donating books or at least 100 chess sets.
Contact Ramon HERE to assist with prizes for the Uitenhage Chess Festival.
In addition to the normal divisions (A, B, C) the 2012 Uitenhage Chess Festival will also include the 2012 EP Ladies Open division.
Past Tournament Results:
- 2004: Held at the Town Hall; 1-day unrated tournament. 54 participants. A section: JP Strydom (Open section winner), Marilize Diedericks (High school winner), Wessel Zwiegers (Primary school winner)
- 2005: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 1-day unrated tournament. 80 participants. A section: Kevin Jacobs (Open section winner), Marilize Diedericks (High school winner), Herman Loods (Primary school winner)
- 2006: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 1-day unrated tournament. 65 participants. A section: D. Anthony (Open section winner), G. Prince (High school winner), A. Neglir (Primary school winner)
- 2007: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament. 67 participants. A section: Sven Stoklose (Open section winner), Jerome Loggenberg (High school winner). B section (unrated): Ronald Strydom
- 2008: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament. 179 participants. A section: Freddy Odendaal (Section winner), Lyndon Appel (<1300 rating-group winner). B section (unrated): Andile Whine (Section winner), Riaan Robinson (High school winner), Simon Francis (Primary school winner), Jamie Francis (Best newcomer)
- 2009: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament. 142 participants. A section: Shane Saffier (Section winner), Johann Keller (<1300 rating-group winner). B section (unrated): JP Strydom (Section winner), Gurshwin Prince (u/20 winner), Lyle Saffier (u/16 winner), Ashlene Brown (u/14 winner), Lilitha Hempe (u/12 winner), Abigail Muller (u/10 winner)
- 2010: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament. 52 participants. A section: Freddy Odendaal (Section winner), Shane Maartins (<1300 rating-group winner), Augusta van Breda (Best newcomer). B section (unrated): Ashlene Brown (High school winner), Brent le Grange (Primary school winner)
- 2011: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament. 99 participants. A section: Freddy Odendaal (Section winner), Riaan Robinson (<1300 rating-group winner).
The 2012 Uitenhage Chess Tournament will comprise 4 Divisions and host an expected 100 participants.
The 4 Divisions for the 9 to 11 August tournament are:
- A Section – Open: any player can take part
- B Section: only players with a Chess SA rating up to 1300 may play
- C Section – Beginners: open to players with no rating
- EP Ladies Open: only female players
Alan Straton
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