John van den Berg (on the left), playing against
Gerald Boulle at Salt Rock 1985
John van den Berg was the joint winner of the 1982 club championship.
He tied for first with Keith Rust with 6½ points from 9 games, both
players losing to third placed Jonathan Mendel! A three game play off
match was then held, and this resulted in one win each, and one draw.
As a result the committee decided that the title should be shared, and
subsequently the club decided to abandon play off matches in the event
of a tie for the championship.
John won the 1980 Natal Closed title at the tender age of 17 years,
and he remained the youngest title winner until Royee Banai won the
1997 event. Surprisingly this was to be the only time that John won
the Natal Closed title.
More details to follow.
More details to follow.