S. Africa Junior Chess: Players gather in Johannesburg for regional championship

World
Europe

02:39

The next generation of South African chess players are putting their master moves to the test at the country's premier junior chess event. Players competed in the South African Junior Regional Chess Championships taking place in Johannesburg. Here's CGTN's Julie Scheier with the report.

Thousands of promising young South Africans are competing for individual and team honors at the Junior Regional Chess Championships. It's a game of skill and concentration, with children as young as eight competing.

RONALD KING CHIEF ARBITER "It is about getting as many players as possible to play chess so the top eight teams they play in the A-section, the second group of 8 teams play in the B-section and that way we fill it up until the last section which can be more than eight players, they will play on a Swiss format but all the others with the eight teams they will play a Round Robin."

"We also have a board prize which means that player one of a certain team can win the prize as the best player one in his section down to player ten. So even if you are in a losing team and your team did not get the bronze or the silver or the gold you can still win the prize as the best player on your table number."

Players square up their knights, bishops, castles and pawns trying to outsmart opponents and defend their king, on a checkered battlefield.

MUSA NYATHI UNDER 16, JOHANNESBURG METRO "I love chess because it helps me improve my thinking - it makes me think critically - especially when it comes to academics like math's, it helps me manage and solve problems and in life it helps me how to handle certain situations."

BERNET GEORGE UNDER 16, JOHANNESBURG METRO "Since last year we won the under 16 championship and I got a board prize and I am looking to try again this year like last year and defend the championship. We always help each other as a team you know because chess has united us."

But there's still a lot of work to do to raise the level of competition to international standard.

RONALD KING CHIEF ARBITER "We still battle a little bit is the quality of the chess - if you were to compare our chess with the rest of the world we are really far behind. We hope that going forward we are going to get some more sponsors in to also get more chess boards out that you can see kids playing chess rather than do other things."

With over 34,000 young hopefuls competing this year, organizers are optimistic that a grandmaster will soon emerge to call checkmate on the world.

Julie Scheier - CGTN - Johannesburg - South Africa.