WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE
This website is devoted to the history of the Durban Chess Club and to the stories of chess players who lived and breathed chess in Durban and its surrounding areas. Durban Chess Club was founded in 1893, making it one of the oldest chess clubs in South Africa. I joined the club in 1974 and was privileged to win the club championships a record 25 times, before retiring from active play at the end of 2018.

Coverage of events from 2019 to 2023 is limited. In the news archive you will find all the reports that I wrote about the club from 2004 to 2019. I have also written extensively about chess in KZN from 2014 to 2018, and you will find these reports on my blog (see above).

THE PANDEMIC YEARS
All Durban Chess Club activities were suspended in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The chairman and his committee all decided to quit during the pandemic years, without holding a general meeting to report on their 2020 term of office. The chairman also failed to organise an election for a new committee. This meeting could have been held online, but that did not happen. As a result, the club ceased to operate and was only able to be revived at the end of 2023.

DURBAN CHESS CLUB ELECTIONS 2024
The club elected a new committee at a special general meeting held on 15th February 2024. Here are the minutes and attendance register.

REVIVE SWISS JANUARY/APRIL 2024
The club started the 2024 year with the Durban Chess Club Revive Swiss (link to chess-results). The winner was Aresti Paraskevopoulos, who enjoyed a slice of luck (see game here) in round 8. Veteran player Cyril Danisa ended in 2nd place, with young Jorah Soojay in 3rd place.

SOUTH AFRICAN CLOSED CHAMPIONSHIPS MARCH 2024
Cyril Danisa was one of twelve players selected for the SA Senior Closed championships held in Cape Town, from 25th March to 2nd April 2024. He finished 6th with a score of 5½ out of 11: (link to chess-results).

SOUTH AFRICAN JUNIOR CLOSED APRIL 2024
This event was held in Benoni from 27th April to 1st May 2024, with 286 of the best South African juniors competing across age groups from under 8 to under 20. Josiah Soojay was placed 9th in the u10 open section and his brother Jorah was even more successful, with 1st place in the u16 open section: (link to chess-results). They were both selected to play for South Africa in the African Junior championships (see below).

Here is one of Jorah's games from the event, which I captured from his scoresheet: (see game here).

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS APRIL/JUNE 2024
The club successfully held its 2024 championships, after a break of 5 years! The A section was a 10-player round robin, made up of the top finishers from the Revive Swiss, plus a new junior member, Michael Schwartz, who had finished 4th in the recent u12 junior closed. The remaining players then played in a Swiss section.

Here are the links to chess-results for the two sections: section A and section B.

Congratulations go to Jason Subke and Aresti Paraskevopoulos, who tied for 1st place with 7 out of 9. Their approaches were vastly different. Jason took a more conservative approach and went unbeaten. However Aresti was far more aggressive, and all of his games were decisive!

In section B, the runaway winner was Kudzaishe Manyanya, whose Chess SA rating of 1242 proved to be a gross understatement. After he had played a couple of games, I discovered that he had a FIDE rating of 1883, but this was not apparent as his name had been captured incorrectly on the FIDE database!

I will now give a selection of games from section A. Round 1 saw a very nice win by the youngest player:


Schwartz vs Mgobhozi
(see game here).

The top seed, Jorah Soojay, came unstuck in round 6 vs Mgobhozi, who was starting to find his form:
(see game here).

In the last round Aresti had to win vs Schwartz and this game shows his aggressive approach:
(see game here).


2024 champions: Jason Subke and Aresti Paraskevopoulos

AFRICAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS JUNE 2024
This event was held at Kopanong in Benoni from 16th to 22nd June 2024, with 469 of the best juniors from all across the African continent. They were divided into 12 groups from under 8 to under 18. The Egyptian team won 7 gold and 2 silver medals, with South Africa the next best country (3 gold, 4 silver). One name to watch is 10-year old Abdalrahman Sameh Mohamed, who scored 9 out of 9 here, then went on to win the Egyptian senior open championships!

Jorah Soojay won the silver medal in the u16 open section, behind the Egyptian player Ahmed Kandil: (link to chess-results).

SOUTH AFRICAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS JUNE/JULY 2024
Play started in the SA Open on 29th June and ended on 7th July 2024, at the Steve Biko Sports Centre, Durban University of Technology. There was plenty of room for all the players and, because of FIDE anti-cheating rules, no spectators were allowed. The top 10 games were broadcast live for spectators to see and I subsequently captured all the remaining games in the A section, so that all the games are available to download from chess-results. The A and B sections were played at the time control of 90 minutes per game, with 30 second increments, which limited the number of days with double rounds.

This event was previously held in Durban in 1966, 1974, 1978, 1984, 1993, 1995, 1996 and 2017. The most memorable of these was the 1993 tournament, which the club organised and sponsored as part of our centenary celebrations. I played in all 5 events from 1978 to 1996 (see this report) and was the chief arbiter in 2017. This time around I decided to play in order to gain a FIDE rating, something that has eluded me. My last competitive game prior to this had been at DCC in 2018, so it was a daunting ask.

I was quite surprised to find myself on board 1 in the final round, having defeated (see game here) the 9-times Malawian champion Joseph Mwale in round 10! The eventual winner was CM Khanya Mazibuko, who was seeded 7th at the start. His score was equalled by CM Keith Khumalo, so they each took home R17,500 in prize money.

Here are the links to chess-results for the two main sections: section A and section B.

Congratulations to club member Bayanda Khumalo, who aced the B section with 9½ points from his 11 games. His performance rating of 1752 exceeded his Chess SA rating by almost 500 points!

CLUB SECOND SWISS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2024
The club's Second Swiss tournament finished on 19th September with another win by Aresti Paraskevopoulos, this time with 7 points from 8 games: (link to chess-results). Here is Aresti's game from round 6, which was extremely hard fought: (see game here).

HAVE YOU HEARD OF A NOVOTNY?
Chess problems sometimes feature a theme called the Novotny. It is an interference theme, where a piece is deliberately placed en prise in such a way that taking it blocks one of the opponent's pieces from attacking (or defending). It is one of those themes that very seldom occurs in practical play. So you can imagine my delight when I came across it in a game played by Durban schoolboy Arav Jugree. Unfortunately his opponent missed his chance for immortality! Here is that game from the Moja Chess Extravaganza tournament in 2023: (see game here).

DURBAN CHESS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2024
The club's 131st annual general meeting was held on 17th October 2024 (as there was no quorum on the 10th). Here is the agenda for the AGM. Minutes will follow shortly.

WORLD YOUTH, BRAZIL, NOVEMBER 2024
Jorah Soojay was picked to represent South Africa at the 2024 World Youth Chess Championships. For more details: (link to chess-results). Unfortunately for Jorah, he was paired in round 1 against his team mate, IM Jan Karsten: (see game here).