Newsletter 4 of 2013 Festive greetings from the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa and welcome to our final newsletter of 2013! We have had another busy period since our last newsletter was released and we are pleased to provide this brief summary of our activities over the last few months. This final newsletter of the year contains reports from our first FIDE rated international event which was held in Lagos, Nigeria as well as from the FIDE rated Monnas Open which was held in Krugersdorp in October 2013. We also track the ongoing progress of the Togo chess federation and we are delighted to include a follow up report which highlights the continuing growth of their monthly rapid tournament as well as their fast developing chess in schools program. We are delighted to be able to include a detailed section which covers our successful visits to Uganda, Malawi and Rwanda. We will be launching formal pilot programs in all three countries in the first quarter of 2014 and we look forward to working with the National Federations in all three jurisdictions in the year that lies ahead. We are also very pleased to be able to announce the winners of the KCF Africa academic grants that were advertised as part of our September newsletter. Our final section provides a high level summary of our achievements over the course of the last year as well as detailing some forthcoming events to look out for in 2014. We would like to wish all our readers well over the festive season and best of luck in their chess endeavours in 2014! Graham Jurgensen Director – KCF Africa info@kcfafrica.com

KCF Africa Tournament Reports – Q4 of 2013

2013 Lagos Chess Classic

The 2013 Lagos Classic was played at the Teslim Bolognum Stadium Indoor Sports Hall in Lagos, Nigeria from the 8th to the 11th October 2013. Mr Babalola Adebayo and his team from the Lagos State Chess Association should be commended for putting together a great event which boasted an impressive prize fund totalling more than USD 23,000! This ultimately attracted a number of strong international players from as far afield as Serbia, Uganda and Egypt. The star attraction was undoubtedly GM Dejan Antic from Serbia, the first GM to ever participate in an Open Swiss tournament in Nigeria. In addition to playing in the main tournament, Dejan also conducted a 20 board simultaneous exhibition match and spent countless hours interacting with members of both the media and the public during the course of the tournament. We would like to thank him for making a very personal contribution to the development of chess in Africa! The festival attracted a record number of participants with 145 players participating in the main section alone. It ended in six way tie for first but was won on tie-break by IM Hesham Abdelrahman from Egypt. The winners all had IM EZAT Mohammed from Egypt to thank however as he succeeded in beating GM Antic in the final round in an extremely tight and exciting fight. The other leader heading into the last round was IM Elijah Emojong from Uganda but he also lost his final round game to end up a half point behind the winners with a score of 5.5/7.

GM Dejan Antic in action during his 20 board simul The 4 winners celebrate at the end of the tournament

2013 Monnas Open & Gauteng Closed

Our last FIDE rated KCF Africa event for 2013 was the Monnas Open & Gauteng Closed which were run in parallel at Monument High School in Krugersdorp, Gauteng between the 5th and the 13th October 2013. This tournament also boasted a cash prizes in excess of R 20,000 as well as offering a valuable academic study bursary for the winner of the junior section. The bursary was won by the talented Vusi Mlahleki from Kwatema who earned himself the right to further his high-school studies free of charge at Monument High School during the 2014 academic year. In the Open section, Siame Kela became the second Zambian player to win a major event in South Africa this year. He destroyed the field over the first 5 rounds before taking draws in the two final rounds to ultimately tie for first place with IM Rodwell Makoto from Zimbabwe. Final results are available at http://www.chess-results.com/tnr112080.aspx?lan=1&art=4&wi=821 The Gauteng Closed portion of the tournament saw fighting chess throughout as section offered qualifying places for the South African B-Closed in January 2014. The section was won by Stephen Skosana ahead of Willem van der Westhuizen. Both players qualified for the Closed as did CM Graham Jurgensen, CM Roland Bezuidenhout and FM Roberto de Abreu. Final standings at http://www.chess-results.com/tnr112661.aspx?lan=1&art=4&wi=821 The 2014 Monnas tournament is targeting an IM norm section so please watch our calendar and Facebook website for further details in this regard.

IM Rodwell Makoto from Zimbabwe won the Open section whilst Stephen Skosana won the Gauteng Closed!

Monthly Open Mensuel d'Echecs de Lomé au Palais des Congrès

in Togo

KCF Africa has continued to support the monthly rapid tournaments in Lome, Togo and we have been delighted to watch this event grow from strength to strength. With the help of the sponsorship provided to the Togo chess federation, the event has blossomed and is now attracting players from neighbouring countries including the Ivory Coast and Ghana! OMEL 11 (the 11th Monthly Open) was dominated by Kojo Hasford Anquandah from Ghana with 6.5 / 7 followed by a quartet composed of Noel FUMEY, Frederick KOUEVI, and Daniel NUMATSI (all Togo) as well as Yves Toure from the Ivory Coast. These nice pictures were captured during the course of the event

The KCF Africa investment in Togo has also been bearing fruit in other areas and a pilot program for chess in schools has been launched which is exceeding even the most optimistic expectations! In less than 3 months, the Togo chess federation has registered more than 1,000 children in only six schools for their chess in schools program. A total of ten trainers are currently donating between 3 and 4 hours each to the program on a volunteer basis and this can only auger well for chess in Togo moving forward. We wish to congratulate the Togo chess federation on their sterling efforts in this regard and we will continue to track their further progress in the months that lie ahead!

Other results and notable African events A number of other notable tournaments have recently been concluded around the continent. Some noteworthy results include the following: Togo National Championships The 2013 Togo national championships have just been concluded with 16 of the best players in the country present at the invitation of the Togolese Chess Federation (FTDE)! Mr. Lekan Adeyemi, President of the Nigerian Chess Federation acted as chief arbiter for this event. After 6 rounds played at a time control of 90 minutes each, the title was eventually won by Mr. Robert LAWSON. Full results from the tournament are available at www.chess-results.com/tnr120349.aspx?lan=1&art=1&wi=821.

Ghana National Championships The 2013 Ghana national championships took place at the Accra Sports Stadium from the 21st to 29th December. Sixteen of the top players in Ghana were invited to the tournament which was won by perennial champion and top seed Mr John Kojo Hasford ahead of Mr Francis Aquandah.

2013 Mdina Chess Championship in Malawi The 2013 Mdina Chess Championships have just been concluded in Blantyre, Malawi and were held between the 27th and 29th December 2013. The event is sponsored by Mdina Business Solutions and run in conjunction with the Malawi Chess Federation (CHESSAM) under the able leadership of its President, Mr. Kezzie Msukwa and Mr Gilton Mkumbwa. Mr Gerald Mphungu put in a dominant performance to finish unbeaten on an impressive total of 7.5/9. He won the event by a clear margin of 1.5 points ahead of the talented trio of Joseph Mwale, Stanford Chiwambo and Chiletso Chipanga. Full results from the tournament are available at http://chess-results.com/tnr120161.aspx?lan=1&art=4&wi=821

2013 Zimbabwe Open The 2013 Zimbabwe Open has attracted an extremely strong field and is currently under way in Harare Zimbabwe. The event offers a first prize of USD 2000 and has attracted a number of strong IM’s including IM Daniel Jere (ZAM), IM Chitumbo Mwale (ZAM), IM Gillan Bwalya (ZAM), IM Rodwell Makoto (ZIM) and IM Providence Oatlohotse. There is currently an eight way tie for first place after 7 rounds of action so this event promises an exciting finish. Progress can be tracked via the Zimbabwe Chess Players facebook page.

Ivory Coast elects new federation president Finally, congratulations are due to M.ESSIS ESSOH Jean-Mathieu who has just been elected as the new President of the Ivorian Chess Federation (FIDEC) on Saturday, December 28 at the General Assembly meeting held at the premises of the municipal Museum of Cocody in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

Launch of operations in Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda We conducted our inaugural country visits to Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda in November 2012 with a view to formally assessing conditions on the ground. This tour was undertaken in preparation for the formal launch of the KCF Africa MiniChess program in these countries in early 2014. Here are the highlights from the team’s report:

Malawi

The KCF Africa team comprising of Mrs Marisa van der Merwe (founder of the MiniChess program) and Mr Andile Mbeki arrived at Lilongwe International Airport on Sunday 17 November where they were greeted by Mr Leonard Sharra of the Malawi Chess Federation (Chessam). On the first day, the team made a very successful presentation to a number of important government officials including representatives from the Department of Youth & Sport as well as the Department of Education.

The KCF Africa team of Andile Mbeki and Marisa

van der Merwe with Mr. Justin Saidi and Mr.

Jameson Ndalama from the Government Dept of

Youth & Sport. Second from right is Mr. Blackson

Malamula form Malawi School Sport Association.

Outside-left is Petros Mtune from the Malawi

Central Region chess League and on the far right is

Ackim Mwale from Chessam.

The team then departed for Blantye where they met with further officials from Chessam at the Ryalls Hotel. On day 2, the team drove to the Southern part of Malawi to visit the mountainous and water-rich Zomba region. In Zomba they visited the Head Office of the Millennium Village Project (MVP) and met with Dr. Andrew Daudi (Team Leader of the MVP Schools in Malawi) as well Joseph Chibwe (Education Coordinator at the MVP). They also took the opportunity to visit St Agnes Primary School and the Mwandama Primary School in the Mwandama Village which are two of the candidate schools currently being considered for inclusion in the planned KCF Africa pilot project in Malawi.

On the third day, the team visited a further two schools in the Blantyre region. The first was a rural-school outside Blantyre (Chisawani Primary School) and the second a city-school (Blantyre Girls Primary School). They also visited the Malawian Sports Council. Our planned program was presented to the local headmasters and teachers and information-pamphlets for KCF-A and MiniChess were distributed at all the schools and centres that were visited. The news was very-well received by all, including by Ruth Samati-Ilambali (District Education Manager of Blantyre Urban Education Department) and Henry Mereka (the Director of the Sports Council).

Headmaster (far left), teachers and learners of

Blantyre Girls PS, with Chessam members and Ruth

Samati-Ilambali (District Education Manager), standing

between Andile and Marisa.

Rwanda

Day 4 found the team moving on to Rwanda with an early start scheduled after landing at Kigali Airport at 02h00 the previous night. The program in Kigali started at 10h00 the next morning with a meeting with the members of the Rwanda Chess Federation. During this session, the planned roll-out was thoroughly discussed and questions were asked and answered in a highly productive meeting.

.

Andile posing with members of the Rwanda Chess Federation (“Ferwande”) at

the Amahoro National stadium in Kigali.

The executive committee that met the team comprised of (from left to right) Mr

Johnson Rutayisire (Technical Director), Mr Kevin Ganza (vice-President) and Mr

Alain Patience Niyibizi (Secretary General).

Unfortunately, the schools in Rwanda were closed at the time of the visit on account of a special conference that had been arranged by the Department of Education. This did not deter the team however and a meeting was nevertheless arranged with headmasters and representatives from a number of local schools that have expressed interest in participating in the planned pilot program in Rwanda.

On the following day the team was privileged to be given an opportunity to visit the Gisozi Genocide Memorial in Kigali before holding a meet with members of the Department of Education. They also met with the Deputy Director General of Education Mr Janvier Gasana as well as with the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Sharon Haba, before leaving for Uganda later that afternoon. Overall, Rwanda and its people made a very positive impression on the team. Kigali proved to be a fast-growing country with progressive development in infrastructure and education and both the headmasters and teachers alike showed a keen interest in trying a new idea that could be of benefit to their learners. We look forward to returning to roll out the planned programme in early 2014.

Uganda After landing at Entebbe Airport in the late afternoon of the 21st November, the team met with the members of the Ugandan Chess Federation over dinner. They discussed the desire of KCF Africa to expand on the MiniChess pilot program that is already scheduled to commence in Uganda early next year, They also discussed the educational impacts of the MiniChess program that are already being witnessed in South Africa. On the morning of the 22nd November Mr Robert Katende drove the group to visit the Kagoma Gate School in the Jinja region of Uganda. This school will be the first school in Uganda to receive the project on a pilot basis in 2014. Road conditions on the way make this visit a major challenge and the journey of +-60 km took well in excess of 2 hours each way. The Kagoma Gate community is very poor and the school is primarily sponsored by a USA based NGO called the Giving Circle Africa. The team met with their Director of Education (Ann Fantauzzi) earlier this year at the Women in the World Summit in New York, where she was inspired by the life-changing impact of chess for youngsters.

Children from Kagoma Gate (foundation phase

only) listen to headmaster Moses Wambi, from

the Giving Circle Africa. They were very well-

behaved, and neatly dressed for the occasion.

As we presented the KCF Africa & MiniChess programs, the members of the Ugandan Chess Federation joined Mr Moses Wambi and his assistant at the Giving Circle offices in Jinja Town.

Robert Katende (far right) will be

conducting the critical Kagoma Gate

MiniChess study from January 2014. He

will be conducting weekly classes as well as

overseeing the scientific impact studies for

learners & teachers, in cooperation with

the University of Johannesburg in South

africa.

Also in this photo are Olga & Chris from

the Ugandan Chess Federation, as well as

Mr Andile Mbeki, Mr Moses Wambi and his

office assistant.

The Kagomo Gate project is expected to provide a milestone study on the impact of KCF-A & MiniChess programs on early childhood development in rural and deprived communities. The study will be assessing how the use of play can help teach critical formative aspects of numeracy, language and life skills development in 5-9 year-olds. On the way back to Kampala, Robert spared no effort in showing the team the origin of the Nile River as well as providing them with the amazing opportunity to stand on the Equator in Uganda! The team finally returned to South Africa on Saturday 23 November after a tiring but highly productive week. The information that was gathered as part of this tour has already proved to be invaluable for planning purposes and will no doubt help us with the formal launch of our operations in all three countries early next year.

KCF Africa Academic Bursary

We announced our intention to grant academic study bursaries to specially deserving chess player in our last newsletter which was released in September 2013. We received a number of applications from across the continent and would like to thank everyone who took the time and effort to submit applications on behalf of deserving candidates. After careful consideration, the Board of the Kasparov Chess Foundation has decided to split the advertised grant into two academic study bursaries of USD 1,000 each. These have been awarded to two promising young players in the form of Joel Deladem Klo from Ghana and Moses Maina from Kenya! Both players come from very humble backgrounds and will hopefully be able to continue their academic studies in 2014 as a result of the grants provided. Below are some short excerpts from their respective motivation letters: Joel Klo

(*Motivated for by Mr George Arko-Dhadzie, President of the Ghana Chess Federation)

“Joel is a young Ghanaian chess player who has shown great enthusiasm for the game of chess during his High School days. He is a first year student studying Computer Engineering at the University of Ghana.” “He got introduced to the game of chess at the Achimota High School where he formed the Noble Knights Chess Club with a couple of his friends. On completion of High School he has started participating actively in a number of strong open tournaments which have been organised by the Ghana Chess Association.“ “He has demonstrated impressive leadership and organisational skills to date and has worked with the Ghana Chess Association to organise an Open Championships for the U-17 category at the Accra Mall.”

Moses Maine

(*Motivated for by Mr Githinji Hinga, President of the Kenyan Chess Federation) “Moses is the current Kenyan National Under 16 chess champion and is a form three student at Raibai Boys High School in Kiambu County. He has excelled in his studies and has consistently led the class in his favourite subjects, Mathematics and Physics. His teacher describes Moses as having a high aptitude, whilst also being obedient and respectful. Moses aspires to become a Civil Engineer.” “Moses has remarkably only been playing chess for one year. He was introduced to the game by his teacher but recently won the 2013 National Youth Chess Championships at his first attempt” He placed ahead of opponents who had played for much longer and with the benefit of private tutoring. For this achievement he has been selected to represent Kenya at the World Youth Chess Championships in Al Ain in December 2013.”

2013 – The year in review

We are proud of our achievements over the course of the last year and we hope to be able to build on these even further in 2014. We wish to thank all our sponsors as well as the many people who have volunteered their time and effort to make the following possible: During the 2013 calendar year we have:

Raised in excess of ZAR 2.5 million (USD 250,000) which will be used directly for the benefit of chess and chess in schools programs across the African continent.

Assisted with the organisation and hosting of no less than six FIDE rated tournaments, namely:

o 2013 Waterkloof Open in Pretoria, South Africa o 2013 Capablanca Open in Pretoria, South Africa (IM Norm event) o 2013 DSK Open in Cape Town, South Africa (GM Norm event) o 2013 UJ Open in Johannesburg, South Africa o 2013 Monnas Open in Krugersdorp, South Africa o 2013 Lagos Classic in Lagos, Nigeria

Assisted tournament organising committees to secure the participation of Grandmasters from as far afield as Turkey, Holland, Serbia, Bellarus, India, USA and Germany in the above mentioned events.

Created opportunities for players and officials from South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Egypt and Lesotho to participate in FIDE rated tournaments on the African continent.

Helped to expand the scope of the MiniChess programme in South Africa to a point where this programme currently reaches in excess of 45,000 learners per week.

Laid the groundwork for the launch of pilot programs in Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda in early 2014.

Announced the launch of annual academic grants totalling USD 2000 which will directly facilitate the academic studies of talented chess players in Africa.

Facilitated a six country tour of Southern African countries by GM Garry Kasparov and a group of international businessmen. The African countries that were visited during the course of 2013 were South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.

Commenced planning for a similar tour of West Africa which will be undertaken in February 2014. Stay posted for further details in this regard.

2014 – Our next steps

Our plans for 2014 are extremely ambitious and include the following:

We hope to further increase the amount of funding secured for Africa to the point where our contributions raised will exceed R5 million (USD 500,000) in the 2014 calendar year.

Our pilot MiniChess programs that will be launched in Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda in early 2014 should be operational and reaching approximately 4000 new learners between the three countries by the end of March 2014.

We then hope to be in a position to launch pilot programs in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Lesotho as part of the second phase of our planned rollout.

Our training material will be translated into French in order to facilitate a prompt rollout to Africa’s many French speaking countries as soon as funding for these programs is secured.

We hope to work with the local federations to create new FIDE rated tournaments in additional African countries. This will hopefully include new FIDE rated events in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, and Zimbabwe before the end of the 2014 calendar year.

We will continue to support our existing tournaments and we will work with the organisers to create further norm opportunities for Africa’s elite players at the events that we support.

We intend to launch an African Chess Calendar in early 2014 and we will work with local organisers across the continent to improve the co-ordination of tournament scheduling for the benefit of all events. This will hopefully also facilitate the participation of even more international players in African tournaments. The KCF Africa tournament calendar will be released shortly in order to allow players who are interested in participating in international events to plan their schedules appropriately.

We realise that the task ahead of us remains enormous and we will continue to work for the benefit of chess across the continent throughout the course of 2014. Please visit the official KCF Africa website at www.kcfafrica.com or email us at info@kcfafrica.com should you require further information on any of our activities or if you be in a position to help in any way during the course of the 2014 calendar year.