Namibian Chess News: Junior players represent Namibia at World Youth Chess Championships (WYCC) in Durban

Namibia’s team comprises of 17 junior players all slated in the 6 separate age groups which are further divided into boys and girls sections . The junior team is as follows;

U8 ; Mika Oberholzer, Galeshewe Jane, Lure Horn,
U10; Ditshaba Jane, Joshua Oberholzer, Kisha van Wyk,
U12; Dante Beukes, Kevin Gurirab, Aldo Horn,
U14; Hiren Naidoo, Anthony Van Der Meer, Elvira Tibinyane
U16; Tibor Trepper, David Wilbard, Lida-Marie Calitz
U18; Montgomery Gurirab, Mamiki Hangero,

These top chess junior players all come from different towns of Namibia and qualified to represent the country during a closed tournament in held in Windhoek in July.

The juniors together with FIDE trainer Goodwill Khoa, Namibia Chess Federation (NCF) Vice-President Melitta Kgobetsi-Mathe and a number of parents left for Durban last week Wednesday (17^th September).

Amidst a well-attended tournament of over 950 players from 88 different countries from all 6 continents the junior team has a mammoth of a task to bring home any silverware. However as accompanying Namibia Chess Federation (NCF) Vice-President Melitta Kgobetsi-Mathe stated via telephone, “…the children are gaining immense exposure and experience from this tournament alone so any medal will be a mere bonus.”

A mother of one of the junior chess players herself, Melitta pointed out that this is the only way Namibian future chess players can grow into players of the same caliber as their Indian and Russian opponents. She explained that, “Namibia has for long remained below average in the sporting arena and it is about time that our kids grow into a culture of competing at an international standard where they will be able to play and win against countries with rich sporting traditions.”

After the first five thrilling rounds team Namibia has amassed a total of 9 wins and 3 draws with six more rounds to go. The tournament is swiss-paired and is has 11 rounds in total.