Playing only on weekends turn players into chess champions

The Weekend Chess Academy clinched top laurers becoming the new schools chess champion in the high school division. The primary school champion is the Zandell Chess Academy.

Chess featured high on the social calendar when teams from seven primary schools and twleve high schools descended on Okahandja during the previous weekend for the Namibia Schools Team Chess Championships. Okahandja Senior Secondary School was the event host.

The defending champions in the primary school division, Zandell Chess Academy, showed why they are called an academy by successfully holding on to their champion status. The team had a perfect score of seven wins from seven games.

The second spot went to the A team of Windhoek Afrikaanse Privaatskool with six wins. Their only game lost was against Zandell.

Still in the primary school division, the Weekend Chess Academy only managed a third place with five wins.

In the high school division, the Weekend Chess Academy proved their mettle by upsetting last year’s champions, Jan Mohr Secondary School. The Weekenders also had a perfect score, seven out of seven, making them the new high school national champions.

Host school, Okahandja Senior Secondary came second with five wins, one draw and one lost. Okahandja Senior Secondary were the underdogs, shuffling the rankings by beating the more experienced teams from Windhoek and Otjiwarongo.

Jan Mohr had to settle for third place.

The Namibian Chess Federation said history was made when another tournament was hosted on the same day in Keetmanshoop for individual players. The top three in each age category will come to Windhoek for the Namibian Schools Individual Chess championship on 08 April 2017.