South African Chess Championship
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The first South African Chess Championship was organised in 1892 by the Cape Town Chess Club. Nowadays the Championship is organised by Chess South Africa (CHESSA), the governing body of chess in South Africa. The tournament is normally held every two years. It is restricted to chess players resident in South Africa (although exceptions have been made on occasion) and participation is by invitation only.
CHESSA was formed in 1992, after unification talks between various chess bodies that commenced the previous year. The 1995 event, the first organised by CHESSA, included titled players from Angola and Zimbabwe and was run on the Swiss system. Since that date, the tournament has been held on a round-robin basis. The winner of the tournament holds the title of South African Closed Chess Champion until the next tournament is held.
Historically, the tournament was usually held on a round-robin or double round-robin basis. In case of a tie for first place, a playoff match was usually conducted. In the early days, the title holder could also be challenged to a title match, and these matches are tabled below.
[edit] Winners of the national championship
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# Year City Winner 1 1892 Cape Town Arthur Rivett
Edward Roberts[1]2 1897 Cape Town Edward Roberts 3 1899 Durban Abraham Michael 4 1903 Johannesburg Frank J. Lee 5 1906 Cape Town Bruno Edgar Siegheim 6 1910 Cape Town Harry Duhan 7 1912 Johannesburg Bruno Edgar Siegheim[2] 8 1920 Cape Town Arthur Cameron
Alexander Chavkin9 1924 Durban Alexander Chavkin 10 1926 Johannesburg Max Blieden 11 1928 Cape Town Max Blieden 12 1935 Johannesburg John C. Archer jr 13 1937 Cape Town Kurt Dreyer[3] 14 1939 Durban Wolfgang Heidenfeld 15 1946 Johannesburg Wolfgang Heidenfeld
John M. Holford16 1947 Cape Town Wolfgang Heidenfeld
Kurt Dreyer17 1949 Durban Wolfgang Heidenfeld 18 1951 East London Wolfgang Heidenfeld 19 1953 Johannesburg John E. Eriksen 20 1955 Cape Town Wolfgang Heidenfeld 21 1957 Durban Wolfgang Heidenfeld 22 1959 Johannesburg Wolfgang Heidenfeld
Kenneth Kirby23 1961 Cape Town Woolf Gerber 24 1963 Pretoria Kenneth Kirby
Kees van der Meyden25 1965 Salisbury Piet Kroon 26 1967 Johannesburg David Friedgood 27 1969 Pretoria Piet Kroon 28 1971 Johannesburg David Friedgood 29 1973 Cape Town David Friedgood 30 1975 East London Piet Kroon
Charles de Villiers31 1977 Pretoria David A. Walker
Charles de Villiers32 1979 Johannesburg Frank Korostenski 33 1981 Cape Town Charles de Villiers 34 1983 Pretoria Donald Macfarlane 35 1985 Johannesburg Clyde Wolpe
Charles de Villiers36 1987 Pretoria Charles de Villiers 37 1989 Secunda Charles de Villiers 38 1995 Cape Town David Gluckman 39 1998 Bruma Lake Mark Rubery
Watu Kobese40 2000 Port Elizabeth Nicholas van der Nat 41 2003 Kempton Park Watu Kobese
Kenneth Solomon42 2005 Cape Town Nicholas van der Nat 43 2007 Cape Town Henry Robert Steel
- ^ The title being shared after a drawn playoff match.
- ^ Bruno Edgar Siegheim defeated Max Blieden in a playoff match.
- ^ Kurt Dreyer who defeated Jack Wolpert in a playoff match.
[edit] Winners of the South African Title
- 1912 Bruno Edgar Siegheim (defeated Henk Meihuizen in challenge)
- 1911 Bruno Edgar Siegheim (defeated Harry Duhan in challenge)
- 1910 Max Blieden (defeated Bruno Edgar Siegheim in challenge)
- 1898 Edward Roberts (defeated P.G. Van Breda in challenge)
- 1897 Edward Roberts (defeated Arthur Cameron in challenge)
[edit] References
- A History of Chess in Southern Africa, by Leonard Reitstein (2003), ISBN 0-620-298929-4. This covers the period from 1892 until 1945.
- South African Chessplayer, edited by Leonard Reitstein, published from 1953 to 1986.
- Guinness Chess: The Records, by Ken Whyld (1986), page 114. This list covers the period from 1892 until 1986.
- Chess In The RSA, edited by Charles van der Westhuizen and others, published from 1987 to 1990.
- Chess in Southern Africa, edited by Mark Levitt and others, published from 1991 to 1995.
- Reports from The Week In Chess (TWIC) by Mark Crowther. Refer to TWIC187 for 1998, TWIC286 for 2000, TWIC451 for 2003, TWIC548 for 2005 and TWIC685 for 2007 Championship.
- On the 1924 championships: [1]
