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International exposure counts when stepping onto the chess battle field

International exposure counts when stepping onto the chess battle field

The best young local chess players converged in Windhoek at the Khomas High School over the previous weekend to fight mighty battles on the 64-square monochrome battlefield, to become Namibia’s junior champions.

Players from across Namibia participated in this year’s Namibia Junior Closed Chess championship of which the first cycle was played two weeks ago in Walvis Bay at Duinesig High. The best eight players in each age-group for both boys and girls made it to the Junior Closed Chess championship.

President of the Namibian Chess Federation, Otto Nakapunda said the competition was fierce and there were notable upsets. “The days of Windhoek-based players dominating the scene are long gone and this bears testimony to the Royal Game’s growth.”

Federation Vice-president, Rowan van Wyk added “One trend that was clear was that the players who have represented the country internationally, are head and shoulders above the rest. Only two of the age-group winners had never donned national colours before. So, the international exposure really came into play here.”

To crown the overall junior champions, the Chess Federation has lined up one more tournament where only the age-group winners will play. This final tournament takes place on 15 July 2017.

The new champions have also qualified to represent Namibia at various African and world championships to be held in Togo, Egypt, Italy, Greece, Uruguay and Brazil. The remaining four players in the Top 5 of each age-group may also represent the country as they are eligible for national colours.

The winning players are Anthony Alter, Alexander Bertelsmann Alexander, Harold Olebile, Xavier Hartmann, Anthony van der Meer, Dante Beukes, Christopher Ndoroma, Ottilie Hinda, Jamie-Nicole Beukes, Lure Horn, Keisha van Wyk, Patience Tsuses and Elvira Tibinyane.


In the picture, all the winners of the Junior Closed Chess championship, with Otto Nakapunda, the Namibian Chess Federation President on the right.


 

 

About The Author

Mandisa Rasmeni

Mandisa Rasmeni has worked as reporter at the Economist for the past five years, first on the entertainment beat but now focussing more on community, social and health reporting. She is a born writer and she believes education is the greatest equalizer. She received her degree in Journalism at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in June 2021. . She is the epitome of perseverance, having started as the newspaper's receptionist in 2013.