The Club Championship commenced in March and was largely completed
by the end of June. The clash of the leaders in round 6 was decided
when Bongani Mgaga lost a vital pawn in the opening to defending
champion Keith Rust, his only loss of the event. Peter Dankelmann
went through undefeated, but had too many draws to win the title.
No Name
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 Score
1 Rust,Keith
* ½ 1 1 ½ 1
1 1 1 1 8.0
2 Dankelmann,Peter
½ * ½ ½ ½ ½
1 1 1 1 6.5
3 Mgaga,Bongani
0 ½ * 1 ½ 1
½ 1 1 1 6.5
4 Danisa,Cyril
0 ½ 0 * ½ 1
½ 0 1 1 4.5
5 Lewis,Ashley
½ ½ ½ ½ * 0
0 0 1 1 4.0
6 Ramsurrup,Pratish
0 ½ 0 0 1 *
0 ½ 1 1 4.0
7 Dri,Steven
0 0 ½ ½ 1 1
* ½ 0 0 3.5
8 Mabuya,McDonald
0 0 0 1 1 ½
½ * 0 0 3.0
9 Zungu,Zipho
0 0 0 0 0 0
1 1 * 1 3.0
10 Buckas,Shihaab
0 0 0 0 0 0
1 1 0 * 2.0
The Candidates section was won by the wily veteran (7-times club
champion) John Blackburn with 5½ points out of 7 games, ahead of
promising youngsters Ezra Pillay and Ashish Ramsurrup. In the
Premier section Kailen Thaver scored a clean sweep 7 out of 7.
Finally, Ahdir Puran won the Reserves tournament with a fine 6
out of 7, losing only to club stalwart Ray Pietersen.
The Natal Open took place on the long weekend 19th to 21st March.
Vincent Choko was crowned 2005 champion, with the fine score of 7
points from 8 games. His sole loss was to leading female player
Suvania Moodliar. Key to his victory was a last round win against
Keith Rust, who was one of the leaders throughout the event. Keith
ended in joint second place with 6½ points, together with David
Choko (Vincent's younger brother, and a past winner of the title),
Nico Marome, and McDonald Mabuya. For a detailed report with pictures
click here.
The Third Swiss was won by Keith Rust with 5 out of 6, ahead of
Ashley Lewis, Peter Dankelmann and Mark Stockhausen on 4 points.
Mark made a comeback to competitive chess this year, and impressed
with two gritty draws against Peter and Keith. The tournament also
saw the debut in Durban chess circles of Dawit Wondimu. Dawit has
represented his country Ethiopia on two occasions at Olympiads, and
sports a fine 2200 FIDE rating. Dawit was unable to play in all the
rounds, and seemed a little out of practice in this event, losing
to Cyril Danisa in the fourth round. We welcome Dawit to Durban.
The Second Swiss was won by Ashley Lewis (5½ out of 7) followed
by Pratish Ramsurrup and Keith Rust on 4½ points. The event was
well attended, with 32 players taking part at various stages.
The First Swiss was won by Cyril Danisa with 6½ out of 8, after he
defeated Bongani Mgaga in a vital last round game. Tied for second place
were Keith Rust and Ashish Ramsurrup on 6 points. Ashish joined the club
in 2004 and has improved rapidly over the last year. In this event he drew
with both Peter Dankelmann and Keith Rust, and had good wins against John
Blackburn and George Oliver.
Shihaab Buckas was one of three boys to represent South Africa in the under
14 age group of the World Youth Championship, held during November 2004 in
Crete. After a slow start, Shihaab recovered to score a creditable 5 points
from 11 games (the highest placed RSA player in the under 14's).
The annual South African junior chess championships for different age groups
took place in Johannesburg in December 2004. The junior members of DCC were
quite successful and a large number of gold and silver medals were received
by club members in the team events.
Congratulations go to Ashley Lewis, who was the highest placed KZN player
in the under 20 age group in Johannesburg, finishing tied for 4th place.
As a result he was selected to play in the SA Junior Closed to be held
later in the year. This capped a fine year for Ashley, which included
finishing second in the 2004 Club Championship.
No Name
team board score finals score comments
1 Lewis,Ashley u20A bd.1 2/5
u20 6/9 =4th place
2 Hammond,Robert u20A bd.5 1½/5
u20 5/9
3 Buckas,Kaamil u20A bd.9 ½/5
u20 3/9
4 Vella,Robbie u20B bd.3 4/5
u20 4½/9 team gold
5 Buckas,Ilhaam u20B bd.6 2/5
u18 4½/9
6 Ramsurrup,Pratish u16 bd.1 4½/5
u16 6/9 team gold
7 Buckas,Shihaab u16 bd.2 4/5
u16 6/9 team silver
8 Ramsurrup,Ashish u16 bd.5 4½/5
u16 6/9 team gold
9 Jankeeparsad,Byron u16 bd.8 4/5
u16 5½/9 team gold
10 Kin,Kurt u14A bd.3 3/5
u14 6/9
11 Pillay,Theolan u14A bd.4 2/5
u14 6/9
12 Buckas,Muheeb u14B bd.4 3/5
u14 4½/9
13 Ramsurrup,Yetish u10 bd.6 3/5
u10 4½/9