SOUTH AFRICAN JUNIOR
CHESS ASSOCIATION
OFFICIAL JUNIOR CHESS BODY OF CHESSA
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WORLD YOUTH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2005
Belfort, FRANCE
18 to 29 JULY 2005
TEAM MANAGERS REPORT
The South African delegation comprised of 53 people:
10 National Champions
20 Other Players (2nd and 3rd Placed players)
1 Team Manager
3 Team Coaches
1 Private Coach
18 Accompanying parentsThe team was selected according to the approved selection criteria of SAJCA according to the results of the South African Junior Chess Championships of 2004 and the South African Junior Closed Chess Championships of 2005. The selection committee comprised of members of the SAJCA Executive, namely Marius Mostert, Chris de Jager and Chris Taylor. Players of all race groups were given the opportunity to compete on level ground for top honors.
The team manager was Chris de Jager and the National coaches Martin Botha, Daniel Cawdry and Edwin November.
Due to the short time available it was not possible to stage a coaching weekend this year.
National colours: For the first time we managed to get national colours for all the players selected for this tournament. Our sincere thanks to CHESSA who supported this initiative all the way.
The arrangements of our delegation went smoothly and we arrived at the venue with plenty of time to acclimatize, rest, relax and work before the players had to play. We were complimented on both our player’s sportsmanship and appearance in the new green and gold national colours by various people from the Chief Arbiter to the managers of other countries.
Although quite a lot of complaints were lodged by some of the participating countries, we were staying in one of the best hotels in Belfort. The playing conditions were not very good with temperatures of up to 40 degrees in the playing hall which affected all the players negatively. The food was also not up to standard and compared badly with the food of Greece the previous years.
Funding for this tournament continues to be a problem as sponsorship is virtually unavailable. The only contribution that our players receive from Chessa is the payment of the entry fees of the National Winners. SAJCA unfortunately can only subsidies our National winners with a limited amount and the players have to cover the rest. Luckily for the National winners, the organizers subsidize the cost of their accommodation. The 2nd and 3rd placed players, however, had to fund everything themselves which boils down to approximately R 17 000.00 per player.
Over a 1000 players from 79 countries competed at the 2005 World Youth Chess Championships.
The competition, as expected, was very strong. The work that was put in before the championships paid off to the extent that we played and beat more European countries than in 2004 as well as established a better awareness of South Africa as a chess playing country. Based on the performance of our players, we certainly achieved this. Our players played as a team and not as individuals and this was a very positive aspect, which was clearly visible in the results and contributed to a greater success in comparison to 2004.
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 for South Africa and had an experience they will never forget. Read the coach’s report to get a better understanding of the tournament. Everyone complimented the SA team for their spirit, attitude and the new green and gold SA colours.
The team manger, national coaches and players also met daily to discuss expectancies, changes and needs throughout the tournament.
The results of the WYCC 2004 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 |
Our overall performance was an improvement on last year’s performance which is a positive sign on the quality of our chess.
It must be noted that the overall standard of this tournament has definitely increased in comparison with last year.
We re-established old and made new contacts with various the countries, such as France, Scotland, Ukraine, Bosnia and the United States, although communication was sometimes difficult. We also established contacts with Anatoly Karpov who was staying in the same hotel as us. The highlight for our players was when he agreed to have a photo session with them.
It was interesting to note that in a number of the countries, the players are funded in full, to participate at this tournament, by their respective governments and/or national chess federations. The number of coach’s of other delegations was based on a one player one coach ratio which is far better than our 1:10 ratio.
Our players were proud ambassadors for South Africa and had an experience they will never forget.
As the team manager I would like to thank SAJCA and CHESSA for affording me this wonderful opportunity and would also like to thank the national coaches, Martin Botha, Daniel Cawdry and Edwin November for their co-operation, dedication and hard work that went into making this tournament the success that it was.
Chris de Jager
Team Manager 2005