It was a day of rapid chess on Saturday 20 August when the Deep Blue Chess Club hosted its annual rapid chess tournament.
The event was held at the Akkerdyk NG Church in Vredenburg and saw players attending from far and wide.
A surprising number of players from St Helena, Saldanha, Langebaan, Lamberts Bay, Vredendal and Vredenburg were in attendance for the battle of the minds. The chess tournament saw many a nail-biting finish in each and every round.
The event consisted of three sections: Elite (top players), Open (mixed bag), and juniors for young and emerging players under 11. The event was really tight and players showed their mettle to the very last. In the final results, after five gruelling rounds, a tie-break system was therefore used to determine the position of players.
The juniors’ third place winners were Micarlo Olivier, Andries Ellman and Mikayla Don. Second place winner was Lucretia Lott, who received a trophy and also received the medal for top lady / girl in this section. Jemaine Klaassens from St Helena Bay Chess Club was the Junior section winner for the Deep Blue Open 2022.
In the Open section, the top girl was Celine Love, who received prize money. Liam Drennen, all the way from Vredendal, received the second place trophy and prize money. The third place winners were Quinwin Arendse, Joshua Wilson and Christopher Visagie. The 2022 Deep Blue Open winner for the open section was Liam Schroeder from St Helena Bay Chess Club.
In the Elite section Jamie Lee Mitchells was the top lady while Chadley Klaaste (Vredenburg) took the 2022 Deep Blue Open champion title. In second place was Nathan Kamalie (Vredenburg) and third was Jacque Basson (Saldanha).
The Deep Blue Chess Club thanks all the technical officials, sponsors and those who worked behind the scenes to make this event possible.
- Those interested in learning chess and / or joining the Deep Blue Chess Club can contact the secretary Estie de Jager on 082 824 2551 or simply join them for a fun game of chess on Wednesdays at 17:00 in the Skilpadsaal at the Vredenburg Sport ground.
