The first weekend of the 2022 South Africa Open ended last night. So lots of excitement was the order of day 2. Let’s recap day round 3 first.
On the first board IM Daniel Cawdery was held to a draw by young up and coming Micheal Simpson. Daniel complained ( legitimately in my opinion ) that the lighting on the stage was not good as he made a mistake just as load-shedding kicked in. This is a problem and the organisers will have to keenly solve this issue.
On board two IM Dante Beukes had to pull out all stops to beat CM Andreas De Jager. I thought at one stage De Jager had a good knight on e4 but he seemed to have misplaced.
IM Beukes impressed me in these last two rounds as he has certainly built up resilience in his play and is prepared to sit through difficult positions and work at the board.
FM Charles De Villiers and Jaco Nelson had a good game in which Nelson sacrifices a pawn early on but the game ended in a draw.
I drew on board four against a young James Allison in a drawish Bg2 Kings Indian. So much excitement all round.
I think for me the game of the round was probably the game involving WCM Rebecca Selkirk against SWDs Clayden Taute. Taute sacrificed his queen for three pieces and proceeded to outplay Selkirk. It was an impressive display. Do have a look at the games when you have a moment! Enjoy the day further.
Dr Lyndon Bouah is an advocate and was captain of the South African Open team during the 2018 Batumi Olympiad. He is also one of Africa’s most prolific chess writers.
Website for the 2022 South Africa Open.
Day 1 report on the 2022 South Africa Open.
2022 South Africa Open on chess-results.com.
2022 reflection on the 2022 South African Closed Chess Championship.
Round 8 report on the 2022 South African Closed Chess Championship.
Reflection on GM Kenny Solomon by Dr Lyndon Bouah.
Reflection on IM Aderito Pedro by Dr Lyndon Bouah.
GM Kenny Solomon’s visit to Kenya.
