25.06.2009
High standard at Junior Open chess championship
THE second Namibian Junior Open chess championship 2009, sponsored by Bank Windhoek, attracted 201 participants in seven different age groups. An astonishing total number of 1 407 chess games were played over seven rounds.
The u.20 division was the battlefield of old rivals Fares Fani and Goodwill Khoa, but Fani scooped the championship trophy when he obtained a perfect score of 7 out of 7. He was followed by Khoa who scored 6/7. Dantago Boois came in third place, with 5/7.
The u.18 competition was equally excited when the trio, Julian Isaak, Calvin Eichab and Madawa Wilson each scored 6/7 points and tied for first place. T
he tiebreak system direct encounter could not seperate the trio as they defeated each other, but the progressive score determined the places and Julian Isaak with a progressive score of 27 points won the section followed by Calvin (25) and Wilson Madawa (23).
Worth mentioning is that Isaak, a top chess student of TWCA and only 16, still managed to win the u.18 section.
The u.16 section was completely dominated by TWCA students. Jack Tjaronda, who only received chess training for the last 1½ years and played like a chess computer, won this section with a perfect score of 7/7. He was followed by William Kamberipa with 6/7 and Christo Retief in third place with 5/7.
The u.14 section was dominated by the silent assassin Immanuel Gariseb, who was undefeated with 6/7 but only after fireworks as he encountered tough opponents Renier Visser and Paulinus Shilombuleni, who each wrestled half a point from him.
He was followed by Visser with 5½ out of 7 in second place and in third place was Alberto Seibeb, also with 5½. Once again the latter two were separated by 22.50 and 19.50 progressive score tiebreak points.
The u.12 section saw Theo Sager from Walvis Bay go undefeated for 6½ out of 7 points. He was followed by Nicola Tjaronda in second place, a quiet, but very focused chess player with 6/7. In third place was Etu Nangula, a very aggressive chess student of ZCA also with 6/7. Both Nicola and Etu, with 26 and 24 progressive scores, only lost to Sager. Banti Smaruj experienced deja vu when he defeated all his opponents in the u.10 section with 7/7.
He took gold in the u.8 section last year. His sister Leilani Smaruj, an equally talented chess player, finished second with 5.5, followed by the new talent Eu-Word Brendell of ZCA with 4.5 after only receiving chess training for four months.
The youngest division, the u.8 group, could only manage four rounds of chess and was dominated by Renneton Calitz with 4/4 followed by James Kamerika who scored 3/4 and Jean van Rensburg with 2.5/4.
The Namibia Chess Federation would like to thank Bank Windhoek for the sponsorship of N$10,000. Together we do better.
For the full results, visit the website www.namibianchessfederation.com.
Let’s hope they can produce some GMs.
First prize is that red thing with a face on it.
It looks like a skinny Kool-aide Man.
“Let’s hope they can produce some GMs.”
If they could produce some food that would be an improvement!