2,400 Play Chess Tournament Under 1 Roof

The Chess Western Province of South Africa organized the South African Juniors Chess Championship under the auspices of The South African Chess Federation. The tournament was held at the University of Cape Town Hall in the Western Province of South Africa from  January 3-10.

The main SAJCC Tournament was held from January 4-7. The Wild Card and the Inter Regional was organized from January 7-10.

The South African Juniors Chess Championships (SAJCC) was truly a record-breaking event in Africa and some regions of the world. The scope, the number of chess players, and the people involved in making the event possible, made the tournament a truly memorable event that will last in the hearts of all for a long time to come. There were more than 2,400 chess players who took part in the South Africa Junior Chess Championships (SAJCC). Some 240 teams of 10 players per team took part in the event. That is a massive number of players in one place. The teams comprised different categories, which included: The Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, Under 18 and Under 20 with both boys and girls sections.

The tournament was hosted at the historic and beautiful University of Cape Town Hall, creating a level of organization that can only be matched/surpassed by Nigeria in terms of the numbers, and probably facilities.

 There was excellent coverage of the tournament in the local media during the event, on the South African News desk, the local newspapers, and the team did well with the Facebook social media platform also. On the first day of the tournament, there was the national anthem, with the kids showing patriotism to the nation

On one of the mornings there was a round of applause for the matriculating students before the games began. Some chess players had done very well. It was great that during a big event like this, SAJCC acknowledged the importance of education. Chess and education certainly go well together.

During the tournament, an analysis room was being used at the sports center by teams and players to go over their games after each round. 

Towards the business end of the tournament, in the last few rounds, the players frantically tried to make sure that they made the medal list. Teams tried to squeeze every last point in the matches. Every single board point counts in the team competitions, and this was no different.

Bruce Mubayiwa attended the event as one of the team managers from Northern Cape. He was the team manager for Under 14A team.

 Toward the end of the event he reflected on the tournament and here is what he had to say:

"We have now had many rounds at The 2015 South African Junior Chess Championships (SAJCC), and there are no easy games in this tournament. I have lived through the drama of wins, losses and hard-fought draws as a team manager and part coach. I don't know who it's tougher for, the players, the team managers or the parents. The players have to sit for hours and hours, trying to outplay each other. Meanwhile the team managers and parents have to live through all the drama. Sometimes you think it's going to be a draw, then the position looks losing and then there is a win, or someone makes an illegal move and it completely changes everything. You add up the team score so far and work out what it will take to win the match. Then as the evaluation of the position starts to change, you wonder if you are still going to get that win or maybe it's just best to settle for a draw, but you still cannot talk to your players."

The parents sit very patiently inside or outside the playing hall. Judging from expressions on their son or daughter, they can take a good guess whether everything is going well. A dejected look at the end of the game needs absolutely no explanation. An excited or relieved player could mean a win or draw, it all depends.

Andrew Fisher, the convener of the SAJCC 2015 gave his morning update during the championships.

He was one of the people who worked very hard behind the scenes with his team to help make the tournament a reality and success. There was a nice big picture of him, right on the front page of Cape Times, a daily newspaper talking about the SAJCC.

There was time before the round starts to celebrate birthdays of chess players and administrators. The rounds started at 9 a.m. each morning. There were two rounds every day, one in the morning and the other one in the evening.

For security reasons, players were instructed to use shuttles to move and not walk the distance. The shuttles were very convenient to move back and forth between the venue and hostels, and everyone loved the tourism attraction they got from following the shuttles.

Final Team Standings

This report was made possible through the efforts and help of Mr Bruce Mubayiwa.