Darryl at the 2004 Natal Open
Darryl was born on 25 February 1969, and died on 28 March 2006, soon
after his 37th birthday. He was taught to play chess by his father,
but was soon able to beat him, and started reading chess books from
the municipal library in order to improve his game. The simultaneous
exhibition given by Karl Robatsch in early 1988 made a big impression
on Darryl, and he subsequently played in the "C" section of the Natal
Open in that year, where he tied for 6th place.
Darryl decided to join the Durban Chess Club in 1989, and made his
mark very quickly in the Moss Kolnik Memorial Swiss. In the Durban
Chess Club Bulletin I wrote "I was impressed by Darryl Mhlongo's
win against Dave Turner. He is obviously a talented young player and
plays with great speed and confidence". Darryl nearly caused a major
upset in his game against Brian Byala (who was 2nd in the 1988 Durban
championship), blundering in an ending when he was two pawns up.
Darryl made his debut in the 1993 Durban championship, where he ended
with 6/9 just ½ point behind the joint winners. Had he not sealed
an ambiguous move in an advantageous position against Gerald Boulle,
he may well have been the 1993 club champion. In later years, Darryl
battled to repeat this performance, with his best result coming in his
final appearance in the 2004 championship, where he tied for 2nd place
on a score of 6½ out of 9 games.
Darryl competed in the Natal Open on numerous occasions, winning the
tournament in 2001 with 6/7 after a titanic last round struggle with
myself (see game below). He was crowned Natal Champion on a tiebreak,
ahead of Danisa and Paraskevopoulos. He shared first again in 2003,
but this time he lost out on the tiebreaks.
Perhaps Darryl's proudest moment came when he won the 1995 Fat Albert
Open, a one-day tournament held at the University from 1994 to 1996.
Darryl received the magnificent first prize of R2000 after scoring
a full house 7/7. His game against Pekka Niiranen is given below.
Another tournament that Darryl delighted in winning was the Glenwood
Open, which he won in 1997, 2000 and again in 2001.
The first game was played in the last round of the 2001 Natal Open, at the
time limit of 90 minutes for the game, and the next in the last round of the
1995 Fat Albert Open, at the time limit of 25 minutes for the game:
[Event "Natal Open"]
[Site "Durban"]
[Date "2001.09.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Mhlongo, Darryl"]
[Black "Rust, Keith"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.Bb3 b4 $6
{going for a risky pawn grab as I was ½ point behind} 9.Na4 Nxe4 10.Nf5 $6
({the books say that} 10.Nxe6 $1 {is best}) 10...Nc5 $6 {we both went astray}
(10...Bb7 $1 {was correct here}) ({but not} 10...exf5 $2 11.Qd5 Qc7 12.Qxa8 Bb7
13.Qa7 Nc6 14.Qb6 $16) 11.Nxc5 dxc5 12.Qf3 $1 Ra7 13.Qg3 $1 exf5
(13...Nd7 $2 14.Nxg7+ Bxg7 15.Qxg7 Rf8 16.Bh6 $18) 14.Qxb8 Qc7
{forcing an ending with an extra pawn, but since none of my pieces
can be developed} (14...Re7 {might be better}) 15.Ba4+ Ke7 16.Qxc7+ Rxc7
17.Bf4 Rb7 18.0-0-0 Be6 19.Rhe1 h6 20.h4 $1 Rg8 21.h5 $1 c4 22.Rd6 g5 $6
{Black is losing the exchange} (22...Kf6 23.Rd8 Rh8 24.Bd6 Bxd6 25.Rxh8 $16
{was probably a better way of giving it up}) 23.hxg6 Rxg6 24.Rxa6 Bg7 25.Bc6 Rd7
26.Bxd7 Kxd7 27.Ra7+ Kc6 28.Bg3 $2 (28.g3 $1 {keeps control and wins easily})
28...f4 29.Bxf4 Rxg2 30.Be3 b3 31.cxb3 cxb3 32.a4 $2
(32.axb3 Bxb3 33.Kd2 {was simpler}) 32...Rg4 $1 33.Kb1 Bf5+ 34.Ka1 Bg6
{now the Ka1 is subject to mate two ways, either on the a-file, or on the
back row, so White must be very careful. In some lines the h-pawn is hard to
stop, so the extra exchange is worthless in this position}
35.Rc1+ Kd6 36.Bc5+ Kd5 37.Ra5 Ke6 38.Be3 Bc2 39.Bd2 h5 40.Bc3 Bh6 41.Re1+ Kd7
42.Rd5+ Kc6 {here Darryl had 22 minutes left to my 15 minutes, so I had to speed up}
43.Rd4 Rg2 44.Rf1 $2 (44.a5 $1 Bg7 (44...Rxf2 $2 45.a6) 45.Rf4 Rg5 $1 46.Bb4
{keeps winning chances}) 44...Bg5 45.Bd2 $2 {funnily enough, neither of us saw that
the Bishop swap loses} (45.Bb4 $1 Kc7 46.f4 Bf6 {was best, with good compensation})
45...Be7 $2 ({I missed my shot at} 45...Bxd2 $1 46.Rxd2 h4 47.Rd4 h3 48.Rh4 h2 $19)
46.Re1 Bc5 47.Rc4 Kd5 48.Rh4 Bg6 49.Be3 Be7 50.Rd4+ Kc6 51.a5 Kb5
52.Rd5+ Ka6 53.Rc1 Bc2 {dropping the h-pawn as Rc6+ worried me}
(53...h4 54.Rc6+ (54.Rd7 $1) Kb7 55.Rb6+ Ka8 {looked bad})
54.Rxh5 Rg4 55.f4 Rg2 56.Bd4 Bb4 57.Bb6
({White must avoid} 57.Bc3 $4 Bxc3 58.bxc3 b2+ 59.Kxb2 Bg6+ 60.Ka3 Bxh5 $19)
57...f5 $1 58.Rg5 Re2 59.Rg8 $2 {careless} (59.Rg6 $1 Bxa5 60.Bxa5+ Kxa5 {was equal})
59...Bxa5 $2 {blindly securing the draw, whereas} (59...Bd2 $1 60.Rh1 Re4 {wins
on the spot due to the threat of ...Ra4 mate}) 60.Bxa5 Kxa5
{we were both down to about 5 minutes each, so I stopped scoring here,
and the remaining moves went something like this}
61.Ra8+ Kb6 62.Ra4 Kb5 63.Ra3 Kb4 64.Ra8 Rf2 65.Rb8+ Kc4 66.Rc8+ Kd3
67.Rd8+ Ke3 68.Re1+ Kxf4 69.Rd4+ Kg5 70.Rg1+ Kf6 71.Rd6+ Ke5 72.Rd8 f4
73.Re1+ Kf5 74.Ra8 f3 75.Rg1 Kf4 76.Rf8+ Ke3 77.Re8+ Kd3 78.Rd8+ Kc4
79.Rc8+ Kb4 80.Rb8+ Kc5 81.Rc8+ Kd6 82.Re1 Re2 83.Rxe2 $1 fxe2 84.Re8 Bd1
85.Kb1 Kd5 86.Kc1 Kc4 87.Kd2 Kd4 88.Rxe2 Bxe2 89.Kxe2 Ke4 90.Kd2 Kd4
{ours was the last game to finish and the audience applauded us} 1/2-1/2
[Event "Fat Albert Open"]
[Site "Durban"]
[Date "1995.08.26"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Mhlongo, Darryl"]
[Black "Niiranen, Pekka"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.b4 $5 Bxb4 4.c3 Bc5 (4...Ba5 5.Qb3 {gives compensation for the
sacrificed pawn} ({or White could try} 5.Nf3 Nc6 {transposing to the Evans Gambit}))
5.d4 exd4 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxc5 dxc3 ({afterwards Pekka suggested} 8...d5 $1
9.exd5 Nf6 {was slightly better for Black}) 9.Qxc3 Qf6 10.e5 Qe6 $2
{the Queen is badly placed here, as Darryl's next move threatens Ng5+}
({better was} 10...Qc6 $1 {with more or less even chances, and this was still
playable on his next move}) 11.Nf3 h6 $2 12.Bxh6 Qa6 13.Ng5+ Ke8 14.Bg7 Rh5 15.Qf3 $1
{there is no answer to the threat of 16.Qf8#} 1-0