Over 250 chess players are testing their skills against their counterparts from all over Africa.
The 2018 Boardwalk Pearson Chess Open Championships in Port Elizabeth exposes the high quality standard of chess while some have used it to prepare for the World Chess Olympiad to be staged in Georgia in September.
The tournament exposes African top class chess players and is strictly by invitation only.
Fifteen-year-old chess guru, Jack Van Zyl Rudd, is the best in his age group on the continent, providing positive results against giants like Ali Farahat of Egypt, Mohamed Haddouche of Algeria and Sahaj Grover of India.
He is already punching above his weight, coming second during the 2016 African Youth Chess Championship.
Rudd says, “I have used strategies that I have seen or learned from other top open players, so the standard here is very good for chess in our tournament and this tournament is one of the most important in our chess calendar.”
Top African players have also applauded the standard displayed in the tournament.
“I had been participating in various chess tournament internationally and on the African continent, conditions here are different but you have to apply different strategies whenever you play any opposition, you got to be careful, but we are trying to lift the standard of chess in Africa,” says top Zimbabwean chess player, Rodwell Makoto.
Chess Official In Africa, Graham Jurgensen says, “Most chess players here will be participating on the world chess Olympiad and chess on the African continent has grown so much despite lack of resources and have become very competitive thus far they have made their respective countries very proud, and standard here is very high.”
Organisers hope to lure more chess players from rural areas around the country, to prepare for the 2019 edition of this international tournament.
Watch video below:
