Durban Chess Fundis

The 2016 KZN open was won by visiting IM Johannes Mabusela from Tshwane, with the fine score of 7½ points out of 8. In 2nd place was Wandumuzi Khanyile from Richards Bay, with 7 points. Here is a copy of the final results.

Defending champion Joseph Mwale hit an early speed bump, when he lost in round 3 to Desmond Rooplal. Here is the score of one of Desmond's favourite games:

[Event "KZN Open"] [White "Mwale, Joseph"] [Black "Rooplal, Desmond"] [Site "Durban"] [Round "3.2"] [Result "0-1"] [Date "2016.04.30"] [WhiteElo "2054"] [BlackElo "1622"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. 0-0 Be7 5. Re1 0-0 6. c3 d5 $5 {The pawn sacrifice on e5 gave a strong attack, similar to a Ruy Lopez Marshall. Perhaps Joseph should have allowed Desmond a perpetual check rather than trying to win at all costs.} 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. Rxe5 Nf6 10. d4 Bd6 11. Re1 (11. Re2 {may be wiser} ) Ng4 12. h3 Qh4 13. Qf3 (13. Be3 Bh2+ $1 (13... Nxe3 14. Rxe3 Qf4 15. g3 Qf6 16. h4 $14 )14. Kf1 Bf4 15. Qe2 Nxe3+ 16. fxe3 Bg3 $44 )Nxf2 $5 (13... Bh2+ 14. Kf1 Ne5 15. dxe5 Qxc4+ 16. Re2 Bxe5 $11 )14. Qxf2 Bh2+ 15. Kf1 Bg3 16. Qe2 (16. Qd2 Bxh3 17. gxh3 Qxh3+ 18. Kg1 Bxe1 19. Qxe1 Rae8 20. Qf2 Qg4+ 21. Kh2 Re4 22. Bf1 Rfe8 $17 ) 16... Bxh3 $1 17. Be3 $2 {the losing move} (17. gxh3 Rae8 18. Be3 Qxh3+ 19. Qg2 Qf5+ 20. Bf2 Bxf2 21. Qxf2 {and there is only a perpetual:} Qh3+ (21... Rxe1+ 22. Kxe1 $1 Re8+ 23. Be2 Qc2 24. Nd2 $18 )22. Kg1 Qg4+ 23. Kf1 Qh3+ 24. Kg1 $11 )Bg4 18. Qd2 Rae8 19. Na3 (19. Bd5 $2 Qh1+ 20. Bg1 Rxe1+ 21. Qxe1 Bxe1 $19 ) Re4 (19... Re6 $1 {was nicer} )20. Nc2 Rf4+ 0-1

Joseph was determined to recover from this setback, and his game against former Durban champion Bongani Mgaga exemplified this. With 25 minutes of the playing session remaining, the lights suddenly went out with Bongani having a slightly worse position in the ending. After stopping the clocks, I found that the light from the torch app on 3 or 4 smartphones was enough for play to continue. Who knew that there is actually a good use for cellphones at a chess tournament? Thanks to all the guys who helped with their phones!

By the start of round 7 Joseph had recovered to 5/6 and was given the White pieces against Mabu, who had won all his games to that point.

Round 7 commences - Mabu, Eli-Jordan and Bismark with Black,
Joseph and Lulama with the White pieces

Here is the score from the clash of the two top seeds. Unfortunately Joseph went astray on move 18 and Mabu exploited his error ruthlessly:

[Event "KZN Open"] [White "Mwale, Joseph"] [Black "Mabusela, Johannes M"] [Site "Durban"] [Round "7.1"] [Result "0-1"] [Date "2016.05.02"] [WhiteElo "2054"] [BlackElo "2240"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Nf3 a6 6. 0-0 Nc6 7. a4 Be7 8. Na3 Na5 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Rc1 c5 12. Nxc4 cxd4 13. Nxd4 $1 0-0 (13... Bxd4 $2 14. Nxa5 Qxa5 15. Qxd4 0-0 16. Rfd1 $16 )14. e3 Nxc4 15. Rxc4 e5 16. Nb3 Rb8 17. Qc2 Be6 18. Rb4 $2 {losing material} (18. Rc3 $11 )Be7 $1 19. Rd1 (19. Rxb7 Rxb7 20. Bxb7 Qb6 $19 {forks} )Bxb4 20. Rxd8 Rfxd8 21. h4 Rbc8 22. Qe4 a5 23. Nxa5 Bxa5 24. b4 Bd5 25. Qxe5 Bxg2 26. Kxg2 Bxb4 27. Qb5 Bf8 28. Qxb7 Ra8 29. Qc6 Ra7 30. g4 Rd6 31. Qe8 Re6 32. Qb5 Re4 33. g5 Rxh4 34. a5 Rg4+ 35. Kf3 Rxg5 36. Qe8 Raxa5 37. e4 Rg6 38. Ke3 Ra3+ 39. Kd4 Rd6+ 40. Kc4 Re6 41. Qb8 Rxe4+ 42. Kd5 Rb4 43. Qe8 Ra5+ 0-1

General view of games in progress

Before ending this report, I must tell you about the upsets. The club gave a highly prized Durban Chess Club golf shirt to all the upset prize winners. The surprising thing was that our oldest player, Solly Kharwa, almost won three such prizes. Desmond escaped his clutches in round 2 after being down a piece. Chief organiser Paul Curry was not so lucky in round 7. To top it off, Solly took out Chad Millard in the last round. His score of 5 out of 8 was not bad for somebody who turned 71 in April! Here is the score of Curry vs Kharwa:

[Event "KZN Open"] [White "Curry, Paul D"] [Black "Kharwa, Suleman"] [Site "Durban"] [Round "7.14"] [Annotator ""] [Result "0-1"] [Date "2016.05.02"] [WhiteElo "1422"] [BlackElo "1000"] [PlyCount "54"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Qc2 a6 6. e3 e6 7. Bd3 Bd7 8. Nge2 Nc6 9. a3 Rb8 10. 0-0 b5 11. b4 g6 12. f3 Bg7 13. e4 Qb6 14. Be3 Nh5 15. e5 Bxe5 16. Kh1 Rc8 17. Qd2 Bxd4 18. Nxd4 Nxd4 19. Be2 Nb3 20. Bxb6 Nxd2 21. Bd4 Nxf1 22. Bxh8 f6 23. Nxd5 exd5 24. Bxf1 Kf7 25. g4 Nf4 26. Bxf6 Kxf6 27. g5+ Ke5 0-1

The following file contains 2016 KZN Open games (80 games played on top boards).