PRESIDENT’s REPORT – 2005
1 December 2005

1.         INTRODUCTION

2.         LOCAL TOURNAMENTS

3.         INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION

4.         DEVELOPMENT

5.         CLOSURE

1. INTRODUCTION

This year started off with the SA Junior Chess Championships in Johannesburg during December 2004, which was immediately followed by the African Junior Chess Championships which took place in Zambia. Activities during 2005 included the now bigger SA Junior Closed Chess Championships, preparation and participation in the World Youth Chess Championships in  France, the World Junior and Girls U/20 Chess Championships in Turkey, the African Junior Chess Championships in Botswana and the World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad in India.

2. LOCAL TOURNAMENTS

2.1  SA Junior Chess Championships 2004 (SAJCC2004)

This event took place in Johannesburg from 5 to 15 December 2004 and 118 teams from 17 regions participated. During the team event 1,128 players participated, whilst over a 1000 players competed in the Individual event. The championships proved to be another great success for chess and the promotion of the game under our youth. Congratulations to Mervyn Govender and the LOC for an exceptionally well organized tournament. The next SA Junior Chess Championships will be in Port Elizabeth, hosted by Eastern Province Junior Chess Association during December 2005.

2.2  SA Junior Closed (2005)

Held during February 2005, our top players once again competed for the closed title. In the U/14 section 34 players participated, and in the U/20 section 40 players participated. The winners were:
U/14 (Junior) Section – winner                    Anant Dole
U/14 (Junior) Section – second place        CH Marais
U/14 (Junior) Section – third place             Melissa Greeff (First Girl)
U/20 (Senior) Section – winner                   Cecile van der Merwe
U/20 (Senior) Section – second place       Craig Willenberg
U/20 (Senior) Section – third place            Eitel Kruger
U/20 (Senior) Section – first girl                  Monique Sischy        
U/20 (Senior) Section – second girl           Mignon Pretorius
           

2.3 South Africa Junior Championships 2005 (CSAJC 2005)

CHESSA decided to change the name of the tournament and in future it will be known as the Chess South Africa Junior Championships. This tournament has just started and again there have been a record number of players. 118 Teams from 17 regions and 1176 players will play in the team event this year. As in the past, we will report in more details at the next SAJCA AGM on this tournament.

The tournament is taking place from 4 to 14 December 2005 at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University campus and is being organized by the Eastern Province Junior Chess Association, with Andries van Wyk as the convener of the LOC. The LOC under the guidance of Andries Jordaan have done an excellent job with some unique features such as sms notification to each participant about his/her opponent for the next round. This is the first time this has ever been introduced in a tournament worldwide.

3.  INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION

One of the principle aims of SAJCA is to create opportunities for our players to participate internationally. This investment in the development of our top chess players is essential in growing the sport continuously. Within the constraints of our funds, we are fortunate to report that we were able to send players to participate in the following international events:

African Junior Chess Championships, Lusaka, Zambia  28 Dec – 5 Jan 2005

           
The South African delegation consisted of 5 players:
Heinrich Stander
Danie  Louw
Neels  Hoek
Mignon  Pretorius
Jenine  Ellappen

The manager was Wim Louw.

Jenine Ellappen finished on an excellent 8 out of 9 and came 1st in the girls U20 section. With this remarkable win she also earned the title Woman International Master.
Heinrich Stander was also in excellent form to win the boys U20 section to become the youngest international master in the history of the championship. Our players surely did us very proud this year.

3.2       World Youth Chess Championships : Belfort, FRANCE,  GREECE from 18-29 July 2005.

            The South African delegation consisted of 53 people:
30 Players, 1 Team Manager, 3     Team Coaches, 1     Private Coach and 18 Parents

The team manager was Chris de Jager and the National coaches were Martin Botha, Daniel Cawdry and Edwin November.
The results of the WYCC 2005 are as follow:

WYCC 2005 - FRANCE - RESULTS

 

NATIONAL WINNERS:		R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11
U10	Nadia  Joubert	0	0.5	0	0.5	1	0	0	0	0	0.5	1	3.5
U10	Marcel  Roberts	0.5	1	0	0.5	0.5	0	0.5	0	0	1	0	4
U12	Melissa Greeff	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	6
U12	Richter Landman	0	0	1	0.5	1	1	0	0.5	0	1	0	5
U14	Daleen Wiid	1	0	0	0.5	0	0.5	0.5	1	1	1	0.5	6
U14	Eitel Kruger	1	0	0	0.5	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	3.5
U16	Magriet vd Merwe	0	0.5	1	1	0	1	0	1	0.5	0	0	5
U16	Heinrich Stander	0.5	0.5	0	1	1	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	1	0	6
U18	Monique Sischy	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	0.5	5.5
U18	Matthew Jonker	0	0	0.5	0.5	1	0	1	0	1	0.5	0	4.5
		4	3.5	3.5	5	5.5	4	4.5	5	5	7	2	49

 

2nd PLACED PLAYERS		R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11
U10	Fallon Fourie	0	0	0	1	0	0.5	1	1	0.5	1	0	5
U10	Sheldon  Jurrius	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	5
U12	Monique Botha	0.5	0.5	0	1	1	0	1	0.5	0	1	1	6.5
U12	Anant Dole	0	1	0	0	0	0.5	1	1	0	1	0	4.5
U14	Angelique Hattingh	0	0	0	1	1	0.5	0	0	1	0	1	4.5
U14	Stefan Oosthuizen	0	0	0.5	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3.5
U16	Linda  Oosthuizen	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0.5	3.5
U16	Henry  Steel	0	0	1	1	1	0	0.5	1	1	1	0	6.5
U18	Kelly-Anne Main	0	0	0	0.5	1	1	1	0.5	0	0	0	4
U18	Ian van Vollenhoven	0	0	0.5	0.5	0	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0	0.5	3.5
		0.5	2.5	3	6	5	5	7	4.5	4	4	5	46.5

 

3rd PLACED PLAYERS		R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11
U10	Eljeanie  Wilke	0	0.5	1	0	1	0	0	0	0.5	0	0.5	3.5
U10	Strydom  Botha	0.5	1	0	1	0	0	0.5	1	1	0	0	5
U12	Lenke van Aarde	0	0.5	1	0	0	0.5	0	0	1	1	1	5
U12	Stefan  Enslin	0	1	0	1	0	0.5	0	0	0.5	0	1	4
U14	Laetitia van Wyk	0	1	0	1	0.5	0.5	0	0.5	0	0.5	0.5	4.5
U14	Michail Michaelides	0	0.5	0	1	0.5	0	0.5	0	0.5	1	0	4
U16	Ingrid de Waal	1	0	0	0	1	0.5	1	0.5	1	0	0	5
U16	Jon Maloney	0	1	0	0	0	0.5	1	0.5	0	0	0.5	3.5
u18	Noelle Pearson	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	0.5	0	3.5
U18	Bernard Venter	0	0	0	1	0	0.5	0.5	0.5	0	0	1	3.5
		1.5	5.5	2	6	3	3	4.5	3	5.5	3	4.5	41.5

 

TOTAL SCORE

6.0

11.5

8.5

17.0

13.5

12.0

16.0

12.5

14.5

14.0

11.5

137

The highlight of the tournament was undoubtedly the performance of Henry Steel and Monique Botha who scored the second highest points ever by a South African at the WYCC namely 6,5 out of 11. This is surely an indication that we are improving on the international scene.

Even though we did not bring any medals home, our players were all winners in one way or the other. They played to the best of their ability and beyond, were proud ambassadors of South Africa and had an experience they will never forget. Read the manager and coach’s report to get a better understanding of the tournament. Everyone complimented the SA team for their spirit, attitude as well as the new green and gold SA colours.

I would like to thank the parents and players who made this an unforgettable experience. A special word of thanks to the coaches, Martin Botha, Daniel Cawdry and Edwin November, as well as Anton Salverda who helped with the coaching of some of the players, for their constant support, dedication and hard work that went into making this tournament the success that it was.

I also want to convey my gratitude to CHESSA for their ongoing support towards the development of our chess players on a national basis and their financial contribution towards the entry fees of the abovementioned national champions.

3.3  World Junior and Girls U/20 Chess Championships – 8 to 23 November 2005 Turkey

The following players were selected to represent South Africa at this tournament.

Heinrich Stander                               Gauteng North
Kgaugelo Mosetlhe                           Gauteng North
Leon de Bruyn                                   Gauteng Juniors

Dr Deon Solomons                           Manager / Coach Western Province

Our players had a really tough tournament with 16 Grand Masters and 14 International Masters playing in the boys section. The results are shown below:

• Heinrich Stander ended on 5 out of 13 (remember that he is only 16 years old and was competing in the U20 section.)
• Kgaugelo Mosetlhe ended with 4,5 out of 13
• Leon de Bruyn ended with 4 out of 13.

The full report will be placed on the SAJCA website (WWW.SAJCA.COM) when it is available.

LESSONS LEARNED: It is obvious that we need to develop, coach and prepare our top players better to be able to compete on the international circuit. We definitely need more quality coaches to assist our youngsters to be able to develop their true potential. For our strong junior players we need relevant coaches with ratings of 2400+ to bring them on par with their international counterparts.  I reported on this last year and unless we do something drastic about the coaching of our top national players we will never be one of the top chess playing countries in the world.

4.  DEVELOPMENT

After the SAJCC2002 and SAJCC2003, all the chess boards and sets were handed out to the different regions to be used for chess development. We have received numerous reports as to how these were utilized in the development of chess at a grassroots level throughout South Africa.
Unfortunately we were not in a position to distribute the chess sets and boards after the 2004 SAJCC, and have decided to again to look at the possibility of doing the same again after this years championships.
Due to the early dates for this year’s WYCC we did not have time to arrange a training camp to prepare our players for the WYCC. We should look very seriously at doing the training camp again next year. It did wonders for their team spirit, preparation for the playing circumstances and self-esteem.

5.  CLOSURE

Finally, I conclude that 2006 will once again be a challenging year for SAJCA. We have an exceptionally talented Executive that will work towards the development of junior chess to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. We are looking forward to a new year full of challenges for our top young players.

To the SAJCA Executive committee I want to express my sincere thanks for your hard work and dedication throughout the year.  

I also want to convey my gratitude to CHESSA for their ongoing support towards the development of our junior chess players.

Finally SAJCA would like see a more active approach from CHESSA to develop our promising young players to become the grand masters of tomorrow. This is only possible through the contracting of IM and GM coaches to train our players in this regard and secondly to assist our players to participate in more international tournaments.
These actions need funding and we have to focus on the task at hand to raise the necessary funds to be able to coach and guide our players to become the grand masters of tomorrow.

I thank you

CHRIS DE JAGER
PRESIDENT : SAJCA
30  November 2005