The first Natal championship that I could trace was held in 1956, when a mere
20 players entered the event. The tournament was won by Kenneth Kirby
(SA champion 1959 and 1963) with a full score of 8/8. The youngest competitor
was 18 year-old Eddie Pein, the uncle of CHESS magazine editor Malcolm!
There was then a big gap until 1967, after which the Natal Open tournament
has been held on an annual basis. The tournament is open to players from all
over Southern Africa, and we have even had overseas entries on occasion!
The top placed player is declared the Kwa-Zulu Natal Open champion, and the
top placed Natal domiciled player is then the Kwa-Zulu Natal Closed champion.
The event was customarily held over seven rounds using the Swiss system of
pairings. From 2004 to 2016 the tournament was held as an eight round
Swiss, with a slightly faster time control.
During the 1970's and 1980's fields of 120 or more players were frequently seen,
with a record 179 entries in 1982, although this has dropped back to about 100
players in recent years. In some of those years the tournament was divided into
multiple sections, on the basis of South African ratings.
After Durban Chess Club had organised the event for 50 years, it was taken over
in 2017 by the KZN Chess Association. Both the 2017 and 2018 tournaments were FIDE
rated and full details on recent KZN opens can be found on
chess-results.