CHECKMATE OPEN

                                                                CHECKMATE OPEN
                                                                Tournament Regulations


1. VENUE: Protea Hotel Thuringerhof, Independence Avenue, Windhoek.

2. EVENT DATE: 26 (Sunday) October 2014

3.1 REGISTRATION PERIOD: 24-26 October 2014

3.2 REGISTRATION METHODS: sms 081-4006467

3.3 PARTICIPANT’S PARTICULARS: Name, Gender (& Year of birth if born AFTER 1994, ie 1995- present.)
3.4 REGISTRATION FEES: Scholars - N$ 20, Adults - N$ 40.

4. WHO MAY PARTICIPATE: This is an Open Tournament, everybody is welcome.

5. EVENT SCHEDULE:

Setting up and Registration starts: 08h00 assailant

Welcome and Opening - 08h30

Announcements: Tournament Director— Charles Eichab


Round 1 :  09h00-10h00
Round 2 :  10h00-11h00
Round 3 :  11h00-12h00
Round 4 :  12h00-13h00

Break: 13h00-13h45 All participants receive a complimentary cooldrink

Round 5 :  14h00-15h00
Round 6 :  15h00-16h00
Round 7 :  16h00-17h00

Prize Giving: 17h40


6. FORMAT & RATE OF PLAY:
The tournament will be played over 7 (SEVEN) Swiss-paired rounds.

Rate of play will be 25 minutes plus 5 seconds increment per move per player per game.

7. PAIRING AND TIE BREAK SYSTEM:

Swiss Manager will be used for the pairings. Please note that the breaks between rounds will be used to do the pairings according to the SWISS SYSTEM.

TIE-BREAK: Direct encounter, Progressive Score and Most Wins.
If players are still tied, then 1 game of Armageddon will be played.

8. PRIZES:
OPEN CATEGORY:

1st Prize =   2000 + Gold Trophy
2nd Prize =   1500 + Silver Trophy
3rd Prize =   1000 + Bronze Trophy
4th =   200
5th =   200
6th =   200
7th =   200
8th =   200

JUNIOR PRIZE:

Best Junior (under 20) = 1st       300 + gold medal
   2nd     200 + silver medal
  3rd      100 + bronze medal

Best Cadet (under 12) = 1st    200 + gold medal
  2nd      150 + silver medal
  3rd      100  + bronze medal


GRAND TOTAL 7,000 sponsored by Borro Ndungula and Brian Jaftha

FINAL LEG OF THE CHESS GRAND PRIX

1.    VENUE: Maerua Mall, at the open area outside FNB and Bank Windhoek Branches. On the 1^st floor near Panarotis.

2. EVENT DATE: 18 October 2014

3.1 REGISTRATION PERIOD: 15-18 (09h00) October 2014

3.2 REGISTRATION METHODS: sms 081-2061439 or register at the venue before 09h00

3.3 PARTICIPANT’S PARTICULARS: Name, Gender (& Year of birth if born AFTER 1994, ie 1995- present.)

3.4 REGISTRATION FEES: Scholars - N$ 20, Adults - N$ 40.

4. WHO MAY PARTICIPATE: This is an Open Tournament, everybody is welcome.

5. EVENT SCHEDULE:

Setting up and Registration starts: 08h00

Welcome and Opening @ 09h40 by Tournament Director Richman Tjiriange 

Announcements from Chief Arbiter Immanuel Gariseb

Round 1 :  10h00-10h50

Round 2 :  11h00-11h50

Round 3 :  12h00-12h50

Break:            13h00-13h50

Round 4 :  14h00-14h50

Round 5 :  15h00-15h50

Round 6 :  16h00-16h50

Round 7 :  17h00-17h50

Prize Giving: 18h30

Vote of Thanks/Closing Remarks

5. FORMAT & RATE OF PLAY:

The tournament will be played over 7 (SEVEN) Swiss-paired rounds. Rate of play will be 25 minutes per player per game.

6. GRAND PRI POINT SYSTEM:

The Grand Prix Series consists of 5 (FIVE) legs. The overal winner of the Grand Prix shall be the player who amasses the most points in 4 (FOUR) of the 5 legs. For each Grand Pri leg, points will be allocated as follows to the top 8 (EIGHT) players;

1^st Place                     = 12 points

2^nd Place                    = 8 points

3^rd Place                    = 6 points

4^th Place                    = 5 points

5^th Place                    = 4 points

6^th Place                    = 3 points

7^th Place                    = 2 points

8^th Place                    = 1 point

6. PAIRING AND TIE BREAK SYSTEM:

Swiss Manager will be used for the pairings. Please note that the breaks between rounds will be used to do the pairings according to the SWISS SYSTEM.

TIE-BREAK: Direct encounter, Progressive Score and Most Wins.

If players are still tied, then 1 game of Armageddon will be played.

7. PRIZES:

Open Category

1^st Prize                      = Trophy, Gold Medal & 800

2^nd Prize                     = Silver Medal & 600

3^rd Prize                     = Bronze Medal & 400

N$200 Total for Lucky Prizes to be WON!

GRAND TOTAL 2,000 sponsored per Leg

General Rules:

1. Silence at all times.

2. Cellular phones should be switched off or put on “silent” mode if switched on. No talking while playing allowed.

3. No assistance to chess players will be allowed during their games. A player who offers assistance will be expelled from the tournament.

4. If a player touches a piece, (s)he should move that piece, provided a legal move can be made with that piece. (Touch is a move.)

5. A player may claim a win if his/her opponent makes an illegal move. This claim should be made immediately and not a move later.

6. Each player must press the clock with the same hand that moves the pieces. However, when castling, capturing or completing a promotion, a player may use both hands.

7. Any player who makes themselves guilty of rude behaviour will be disqualified with immediate effect.

The blitz rules of FIDE will apply during this event.

The Appeals Committee to be announced in due course.

Complaints should be directed to the individual members of the Appeals Committee. Should a player be unhappy with the initial decision made by such a member, (s)he may appeal. The remaining members would then weigh in and their decision is final.

...............................................................................

Tournament Director

Richman Tjiriange

 081-2061439

secretary@namibiachessfederation.com

Web: http://namchess.blogspot.com

2014 Namsports Premier Chess League reaches its final rounds

With only 5 rounds more to go, the Bayern Munich of Namibian chess seem to be going another year with an unbeaten run. Capablanca Chess Club stands firm on top of the log with 40 points from 21 games, followed by Gunter Husselman Chess Club (GHCC) trailing behind with 37 points.

Capablanca defeated the only possible title contenders - Gunter Husselman and Indomitable Knights chess club (IKCC) - in the last two rounds to secure a possible 2nd league title after already winning it last year.

At the top half of the standings, the upcoming final fixtures are more decisive in the battle for the 3rd and 4th spot, between The Weekend Chess Academy (TWCA) and IKCC.

While the bottom half sees the most excitement as most teams compete for a top half finish while others struggle to escape downgrading to 1^st division.

All-women's team Queens United, with its fiery duo of newly awarded candidate masters - Jolly Nepando and Toshi Haufiku and an added bonus of two Namibian women champions in the likes of Nicola Tjaronda and Kamutuua Tjatindi may see itself fall into relegation if it continues with its current losing streak, having lost the last 3 rounds.

The Queens may as well be on their way to rescue current relegation line-holders Checkmate chess club who have been relentlessly fighting tooth and nail to escape demotion to the 2015 1st division.

Round 21 last week ended with the following results: Grand Monsters 3-1 Herero Mall; Checkmate 1-3 Poly U-Knighted ; Capablanca 4-0 Indomitable Knights ; Unam Titans 0-4 Gunter Husselman; Poly Rookers 4-0 BYE; ZCA 1-3 Unam  ; TWCA 4-0 Queens United.

THIS IS WHAT THE 2014 NAMSPORTS PREMIER CHESS LEAGUE STANDINGS LOOK LIKE AFTER ROUND 21.

POS. TEAM                      Played/    Wins      / Draws/      Loses/       Game-Points/     Match-Points

1. Capablanca CC               21            19                 2               0                       74½                        40

2. Gunter Husselman CC     21            17                3               1                       71                           37

3. Indomitable Knights CC  21          16                 2               3                       63½                        34

4. TWCA                            21           16                 1               4                       62                           33

5. Poly U-Knighted CC       20           9                    6               5                       43½                        24

6. Unam CC                        21          9                    3               9                       43½                        21

7. Grand Monsters CC        21           9                    3               9                       42                           21

8. ZCA                                21           8                   3               10                    40½                        19

9. Herero Mall CC               20           7                    3               10                    33                           17

10. Queens United CC         20           6                    3               11                    28                           15

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Relegation

11. Checkmate CC              21           4                    3               14                    27                           11

12. Poly Rookers CC           20           4                     2              14                    23                           10

13. Unam Titans CC             19           3                     0              16                    15½                        6

14. Police CC                       8              0                     0               8                      0                              0

The league continues tonight (MONDAY O6 October 2014) with the Round 22:  **

Fixtures for Round 22

Queens United                      vs                    Herero Mall

TWCA                                 vs                    UNAM

ZCA                                    vs                    Police

Poly Rookers                       vs                    Gunter Husselman

UNAM Titans                      vs                    Indomitable Knights

 Capablanca                         vs                    Poly U-Knighted

Checkmate                           vs                    Grandmosters

**All games are played in Windhoek at Protea Hotel Thuringerhof every Monday from 18h30 to 22h00.

Uapingene faces chess prodigies at World Junior tournament

A total of 48 countries will be competing in Pune, India as from the 5^th to 20^th October for the prestigious World Junior Chess Championship title.

Uativi Jossy Uapingene (20) is one of the only four African players that are competing in the open section of this tournament alongside Mohamed Saim from Algeria, Mohammed Nader from Egypt and South Africa’s Reddy Ananta.

The tournament is open to Under 20 players from all over the world and includes a number of junior chess powerhouses in the likes of China’s youngest Grand Master (GM), 14 year old Wei Yi, Russia’s GM Vladimir Fedoseev who tops the starting ranks with the highest world FIDE rating at the tournament and the Netherlands’ highest ranked junior player GM Robin van Kampen.

Eighteen players in this tournament have GM titles and more than a handful are chess prodigies who started playing the mental sport as early as age 4. China’s Wei Yi for instance reached his GM level last year at the jaw-dropping age of 13.

Uapingene is not worried about his highly ranked adversaries however. He has been training hard these past months and says he is confident and ready to compete with any player from any country. The 2014 UNAM chess victor and third place runner-up at this year’s National Junior closed championship traveled to India for studies in August and has been preparing for the competition ever since.

Current Namibian Junior champion, Immanuel Gariseb and 2^nd runner-up William Kamberipa could not travel to India for the tournament due to grade 12 exams and so Uapingene as 3^rd place qualifier is carrying the country’s flag in Pune instead.

Development Officer Charles Eichab of the chess federation says that, ‘…this is yet another milestone for Namibian chess as this is the first time we sent a player to the World Juniors. Namibia has been represented at three international events and one regional event this year alone not including two other international tournaments scheduled before the year ends.’

Eichab explained that this is all done as a part of the Namibia Chess Federation’s (NCF) long-term developmental strategy plans that will see Namibian players grow in strength from continued international exposure.

The tournament is 13 rounds long with round 1 starting on 6^th October and round 13 ending on 19^th October.

Check the pairing and results on the link below..

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr147550.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=1&flag=30&wi=821

Eight new FIDE Arbiters for Namibia

Several goals were set earlier this year in April at the National Sports Conference focused around the theme of ‘creating a winning sporting nation’ and the Namibia Chess Federation (NCF) as one of the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) affiliated sport codes present at that indaba embarked on a challenge to be one of the very first sporting codes to achieve these set national sporting goals.

One of the major goals that the NCF seeks to carry out is that of capacity building and nationalizing of the chess as a dominant sport code in the country.

The NCF has for some time struggled to host FIDE (World Chess Federation) rated tournaments on its own, so much so that the employment of arbiters from neighboring countries had to be undertaken in order for the country to host any international or regional chess tournaments.

As of September this year, this privation of chess arbiters has fortunately become a thing of the past.

Eight newly qualified FIDE arbiters join the ranks of the three Namibian existing FIDE arbiters after attending and passing a FIDE arbiter’s course held in the capital between 12 to 14 September. This course was held by the NCF under the auspices of FIDE through the facilitation of internationally acclaimed FIDE lecturer and FIDE Arbiters' Commission Councilor IA Werner Stubenvoll from Austria.

Apart from the eight FIDE arbiters, six participants of the same FIDE course also qualified as National arbiters bringing the number of qualified chess arbiters to an outstanding 18 – which is more than enough to host several national and international tournaments countrywide.

El-Shaddai Aluteni and Melitta Kgobetsi-Mathe made history by qualifying as Namibia’s very first female FIDE arbiters.

The other newly qualified FIDE arbiters include Charles Eichab, Billy Chisenga, McLean Handjaba, Otto Nakapunda Immanuel Gariseb and Peter Gallert. Whilst the six National arbiters are Regnald Hangula, Johannes Nyandi, Titus Uukelo, Kandoza Shituna, Tuahepa Casper and Brian Jaftha.

The boost in manpower comes just at a time when the NCF is endeavoring in hosting training seminars in all regions and at the same time spearheading a chess-in-schools initiative which will see chess being made part of the Namibian school primary and secondary curricula.