The 2017 Kinshasa Open took place over the weekend of 24 - 25 June and was run by the Congo Chess Federation (FECOJEC) with support from KCF Africa and Bralima.

The event is one of the smaller annual tournaments we support on an annual basis but it is very important to the local chess federation which continues to try and grow the game in the country.

The DRC is one of the largest countries in Africa and its sheer size makes it logistically challenging to attract international players. Despite this, there are a number of strong local players who are based within the capital city of Kinshasa.

The 5 round tournament was played as an open swiss event and it attracted 18 participants. It was won with a perfect score of 5/5 by FM Willy Mimbasa who lived up to his reputation as the only titled player from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We wish to recognize the ongoing work of Mr Guy Esungi and his team at FECOJEC and we thank Mr Dady Katungulu who officiated at the tournament.

The 2017 SA Open eventually attracted more than 450 players and was dominated by Indian GM Sahaj Grover who eventually won all three of the major tournaments (SA Open, SA Rapid and SA Blitz).

This was the second time that Sahaj has visited South Africa within the last three months after his strong performances in the PSS Rapid and the Capablanca Open tournaments earlier this year.

KCF wishes to congratulate Sahaj on a great performance and we also extend our congratulations to IM Daniel Jere (2nd), IM Rodwell Makoto (3rd) and IM Watu Kobese who ended as the highest placed South African to qualify for the SA Closed at the end of the year.

Chessbase has also published a nice report on the event which was written by the tournament director Mr Erick Takawira. Full details can be read at https://en.chessbase.com/post/sahaj-grover-dominates-south-african-champ...

Report on the visit of GM Kenny Solomon to Zambia
- by IM Andrew Kayonde

The third tour of the Chess Masters for Africa program in Zambia was conducted from the 19th to the 26th June 2016 by Grandmaster Kenny Solomon. His visit marked the final stage of the program which has already impacted in excess of 350 children across the country.

Kenny's tour commenced only two days after he won the Zone 4.3 Chess Championships in Livingstone, earning himself a coveted ticket to represent Africa at the Chess World Cup which is slated to take place in September in Georgia. Kenny flew directly to Lusaka following his triumph in Livingstone and immediately commenced with the roll out of the tour.

Day 1 was spent up-skilling the trainees – Kenny launched the tour by meeting with the trainers at the Russian Center and getting some insight into how each has developed since the inception of the CMFA program in Zambia. From the feedback received, the trainers have shown reasonable progress in both their individual playing strength and their ability to train children.

Kenny shared with them the story of his own journey to becoming a Grandmaster and his philosophy on chess development. He then delivered a lesson on fundamental rook and pawn endgames and then illustrated how to convert complex endgames into these fundamental technical endgames. He also illustrated the importance of building patterns and studying how they are executed in real games played by Masters from the past.

In the afternoon, the team visited the SOS Children’s Village which contributes the largest number of children to the CMFA program in Zambia. In total, 89 children were reached during this visit. The children were very well behaved and listened attentively to Kenny's motivational talk which encouraged them to keep their minds active through sport. At the end of the lesson, the children were encouraged to research on the past World Champions and come and name them the following day.

The morning of Day 2 again started off at the Russian Center with GM Solomon building on the lessons from the previous day. Satisfied that the trainers had grasped the fundamental rook and pawn endgames, he proceeded to teach about combinative play and things to look out for in complex middle-games. He used a game played by Alekhine in 1925 as well as one of his recent games at the Zone 4.3 tournament to deliver the lesson.

At around noon, ZNBC (the national broadcasting corporation) arrived on site and held an interview with Kenny and some of the trainees. The journalists asked pertinent questions about the program and the impact it had on children in Zambia. It was aired on the main news bulletin later that evening.

Once the interviews were finished the team paid a second visit to SOS Children’s Village. During this second visit, the children were taught about chess openings and the principles to observe during this phase of the game. 10 chess sets and two clocks were donated to the school and were gratefully received by the Principal and a delegation of senior teachers.

DAY 3 and 4 saw school visits conducted to Chibolya Primary School and Saint Mary Queen of Peace Girls Convent School. In the mornings, the team visited Chibolya, and in the afternoons they went to Mary Queen.

The Grandmaster delivered similar lessons to the two schools starting each lesson with a motivational talk while highlighting the benefits of chess and teaching the basics of the game.
On the second day, a review of the basics was done to establish if the children could apply the knowledge they had acquired. It was impressive how quickly and firmly the children from both schools had grasped the lessons.

GM Solomon also talked to the children about chess history which appeared to be a very exciting topic for them.

8 chess sets and two clocks were donated to each of the two schools and were again received by their Principals and delegations of senior teachers.

Day 5 saw Kenny conduct a simultaneous exhibition at the East Park Mall. He interacted with the wider chess populace at this event where he took on 24 opponents at the same time. His opponents included some of Zambia’s most promising junior players who were very keen to have an encounter with a Grandmaster. The exhibition was strategically held at the East Park Mall which ensured exposure to the large number of people passing by to do their weekend shopping.

The trainers were all at hand to explain the basics of the game to interested people and explain what the CMAT program was trying to achieve. It was interesting to note that this was the first time that many people learned that there was in fact a co-founder behind Microsoft!

The exhibition lasted approximately 4 hours with Kenny ultimately winning 20 games, drawing three and losing one. The only game Kenny lost was to one of the up and coming junior players by the name Sekelani Tembo. This was excellent motivation for Sekelani who has been brought up by his mother after he lost his father in a road accident at a very young age.

On the final day, Kenny visited the National Chess League and conducted one-on-one sessions with the Trainees. Almost every active chess player in Zambia was wanting to meet the Grandmaster to understand what he did to win the tough Zone 4.3 Chess Championships. In view of this, Kenny spent most of Sunday afternoon visiting with the chess players at the National Chess League held from NIPA. He openly gave personalized advice to chess players of all strength levels who were participating in the league games.

The President of the Zambia Chess Federation and Chairman of the Lusaka Province Chess Association received the Grandmaster and encouraged the players to take advantage of the rare opportunity. Kenny watched each of the CMAT trainees in action as they played their league games and ended the day with a series of one-on-one sessions in which he discussed the individual areas where he felt they could make improvements.

The Grandmaster finally departed for Botswana on the 26th June where he would complete the final training sessions for the 2017 CMAT tour.

GM MAURICE ASHLEY's VISIT TO NAMIBIA
Report from Charles Eichab in Windhoek

GM Maurice Ashley visited Namibia from 11 - 15 June for the last of the 3 training sessions planned as part of the Chess Masters for Africa project. His fame as a teacher, writer and commentator had the training group particularly excited to receive him.

Maurice arrived on a fine Sunday afternoon at Namibia’s main airport and was driven the last 40km to Windhoek after clearing customs. This gave the GM a chance to get some general info on the country as well as its fauna and flora. We also share some important details about the trainees to assist the GM in his final preparation. After some arrival pictures, Maurice was left to settle in at the Hilton Hotel which was to be his abode for the duration of his stay.

TRAINING DAY 1 – 12 June 2017
Maurice gave each trainer the task of writing down questions they generally wrestle with in chess for his question and answer session on the final day.

The first session was loaded with many instructive items. The GM taught us about the three pillars of chess and showed trainers that it is important to construct a reason when teaching. We gained wonderful insights on the overall geometry of the chess board which helped us to view the chessboard with other shapes except the squares. We also went through many famous and important studies.

Although some studies were of a foundation nature, they were nevertheless a revelation for many of the trainees who had never seen them before. The trainees then played positions with unbalanced material distribution for each side which prove to be a lot of fun for all.

The first session was the shortest as lasted from 11h00 to 17h30 as players had to play in the Namibian Chess League. The GM visited the league later. He spent some time kibitzing the games and also studied some of the positions with Namibia’s top junior players.

TRAINING DAY 2 – 13 June 2017

On the second day, the GM spent time analyzed most of the games from the league played by the trainees the night before.
We continued our look at study positions and learned that imbalances are the essence of positional play. Each participant played the study positions from both sides with another trainee.

We also learned the 3 F’s which must be applied to assess any exchange in chess. This was a particular helpful rule of thumb.
We had multiple sparring sessions to internalized important chess concepts.

TRAINING DAY 3 – 14 June 2017

We started the day with an instructive session on one of the GM’s favorite writers De’bono who has a huge literature on the art of creativity. Maurice also stressed that the best way to build muscle memory faster is through muscle confusion. We must therefore learn to do things which are out of the ordinary.

He also taught us various forms of games that can be played on the chess board that can be exciting for the kids. Playing chess from opposite sides, give-away chess etc…

Later in the day, the GM visited a popular night club to soak in some of Namibia’s night life. We found some of the trainees playing chess in the middle of a club and the GM joined in spending the entire evening playing chess.

TRAINING DAY 4 – 15 June 2017

The GM explain how chess is a limited resources game where play gradually draws into the simple and therefore the need for us to play and understand simple positions deeply. We need some foundations rook endings as well as pawn endings.

It was interesting to note how even simple king-pawn positions like the Philidor and Vancura came in handy.

We also did the 5 categories of forcing moves and learned how to recognize and teach patterns and various checkmate themes through the study of the Arabian mate. At the end of the study the trainees were encouraged to create their own Arabian checkmates.

The GM then took the time to answer questions by each trainee which was handed in on day 1 of the training.

CONCLUSION

Maurice has a massive passion for chess teaching and manages to teach with a commanding voice even at the closing moments of the sessions. His ability to draw analogies and affinities to chess from many other disciplines of life make the teaching very informative but also easy to internalize.

The GM’s generosity of time and interest in the development of the trainees was very much evident throughout his stay. We are eternally grateful that our country was one of the chosen few to have been offered the opportunity to draw from GM Maurice Ashley’s inexhaustible well of chess knowledge