Saturday 14 March 2020 was a busy day in the family of the Cape Winelands chess community. A new club called the Drakenstein Pioneers chess club was established in February 2020 and organised their first event. The president of the Cape Winelands Chess union, Advocate Freek Geyser kindly shared the following letter he received from Mr Willem Van Tonder.
Advocate Freek Geyser congratulating Mr Willem Van Tonder
The President
CApe Winelands Chess Union
Dear Freek,
Drakenstein Pioneers Chess Club has been established in the first week of February 2020 to accommodate chess players in the Paarl/Wellington geographical area. The mission of the club is to create an environment where chess lovers and their famlies can socialize, network, grow and develop themself to become better at what they do and to have fun.
On Saturday, 14 March 2020, the Club hosted its first tournament in Wellington with a hundred and one (101) participants competing in 4 sections. The A Section saw heavy weights from Cape Town, Kenneth Willenberg and Lutho Mfazwe competing for the prize money of which Lutho was crowned winner of the day. The match between Kenny and Lutho (which ended in a draw) delivered sparks at the end with Kenny demonstrating to the audience how Chess should be played with 15 seconds to go on the clock.
The other highlight of the day was the Development Section that hosted 22 newcomers who played competitve chess for the first time. Twenty five (25) youngsters competed against each other in seven rounds under the supervision of Abram Abrahams (Arbiter to be) as well as 3 other Club Technical Officials.
Tournament Winners of the Standard 60/60 – 5 rounds competition:
A Section:
1st – Lutho Mfazwe 4.5 / 5
2nd – Kenneth Willenberg 4.5 / 5
3rd – Virgil Fritz 4 / 5
B Section:
1st – Jeyhlin Jaftha 4.5 / 5
2nd – Nathan April 4.5 / 5
3rd – Wagheed Rosenberg 4.5 / 5
C Section:
1st – Alexander van der Walt 5 / 5
2nd – jayden Smith 4 / 5
3rd – Oscar Benvenuto 4 / 5
D Section (Development):
1st – Johannes Truter 7 / 7
2nd – Chameeka September 6 / 7
3rd – Skyler Williams 5 / 7
Drakenstein Pioneers was established with 58 members in February 2020 and grew its membership to 70 members already. The Club succeeded in hosting their first Inaugural event and will only grow from here. The members of the Club appreciate all the assistance that was offered, especially the equipment that was borrowed from other Clubs in the Winelands Region and the Wellington School of Skills for their venue. Our appreciation to the EXCO of Cape Winelands in supporting this event
and for the President, Freek Geyser who demonstrated his commitment in person. Establishing new Clubs and creating opportunities where people can play Chess, compliment the mission of Cape Winelands Chess Union where the aim is to promote Chess in all communities and to establish a Chess Club in every town.
Chess greetings
Willem van Tonder
Lutho Mfazwe playing with white pieces
So Lutho was adjudged first with Kenny Willenberg however having the same score as he did. Well done to everyone who made this event possible. Lutho sent me a few of his games. Let’s have a look.
XABCDEFGHY
8r+l+ntrk+(
7+p+nwq-vlp’
6p+p+-zpp+&
5+-zPp+-+-%
4-+LsNPzP-+$
3+PsN-vL-+P#
2P+-+-+P+”
1+-tRQ+RmK-!
xabcdefghy
In this position Lutho sacrificed his knight against Dr Esau for two pawns. It was a hard fought game as Black recovered somewhat and just couldn’t put White away who brought the point home with strong play.
(1) Mfazwe,L – Esau,O [E91]
(1), 14.02.2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.0–0 c6 8.h3 Ne8 9.Bg5 f6 10.Be3 e5
11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nd4 Qc7 13.Rc1 Qf7 14.b3 a6 15.f4 Nd7 16.c5 Qe7 17.Bc4+ d5 18.Nxd5 cxd5
19.Bxd5+ Kh8 20.Ne6 Nb6 21.Nxf8 Nxd5 22.Qxd5 Bxf8 23.Qd3 Bd7 24.Bd4 Bb5 25.Qf3 Bxf1
26.Rxf1 Rd8 27.Qc3 Bg7 28.Re1 Qd7 29.Bf2 Nc7 30.a4 Ne6 31.g3 Nd4 32.Kg2 Nc6 33.Qc4 Na5
34.Qb4 Qd2 35.Qb6 Rd7 36.b4 Nc6 37.b5 axb5 38.axb5 Nd8 39.Ra1 h5 40.Ra8 Kh7 41.c6 bxc6
42.bxc6 Rd6 43.c7 Rxb6 44.cxd8Q Qxd8 45.Rxd8 Rb2 46.Kf3 Rb3+ 47.Be3 Rb7 48.Rd6 Rc7
49.Bd4 f5 50.e5 Bf8 51.Rd8 Be7 52.Re8 Kh6 53.e6 Kh7 54.Rh8# 1–0
In the next game he played against his teammate Virgil Fritz and in a positional game he took the point! Let’s look at a critical position!
XABCDEFGHY
8-+-tr-+-+(
7+-+-+p+k’
6-zp-+n+pvl&
5zpN+-+-+p%
4P+PzpPzP-+$
3+-+P+K+P#
2R+-+-+-+”
1+-+-+L+-!
xabcdefghy
In the above position Fritz decided not to protect the pawn but rather go for the knight sally Na7. Mfazwe however grabbed the pawn and never looked back!
(2) Fritz,V – Mfazwe,L [A36]
(2), 14.03.2020
1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 Nc6 4.g3 d6 5.Bg2 g6 6.Nge2 Bg7 7.d3 Nge7 8.0–0 0–0 9.Bg5 h6 10.Be3 Rb8 11.Qd2 Kh7 12.a3 Nd4 13.Bxd4 cxd4 14.Nb5 Nc6 15.a4 a6 16.Na3 a5 17.Rac1 e5 18.f4 h5 19.Qd1 Bh6 20.c5 dxc5 21.Rxc5 exf4 22.gxf4 Qe7 23.Rc1 Bg4 24.h3 Bxe2 25.Qxe2 Nb4 26.Rc4 Rfd8 27.Nb5 Rbc8 28.b3 Rxc4 29.bxc4 Qh4 30.Qf3 Nc2 31.Qf2 Qxf2+ 32.Rxf2 Nb4 33.Bf1 Na6 34.Kg2 Nc5 35.Kf3 b6 36.Ra2 Ne6 37.Na7 Bxf4 38.Nc6 Rd6 39.Ne7 Be5 40.Nd5 Nc5 41.Be2 Kh6
42.h4 Nd7 43.Bf1 f6 44.Bh3 Nc5 45.Bf1 g5 46.hxg5+ fxg5 47.Ne7 Rf6+ 48.Nf5+ Kg6 49.Kg2 g4
50.Rb2 Nxa4 51.Rb5 Nc5 52.Ne7+ Kg5 53.Nd5 Rc6 54.Nxb6 h4 55.Nd5 h3+ 56.Kg1 a4 57.Ne7 Rc7 58.Nd5 Rf7 59.Rxc5 h2+ 0–1
The next game was against Athon Willenberg. The game was a Grunfeld and in this game Athon allowed his Bishop to be blocked from g7 which led to an opportunity for White.
XABCDEFGHY
8-+-tr-+k+(
7zp-+-zp-+p’
6-wqp+Pzp-vL&
5snpvl-+-zp-%
4-sn-+-sN-+$
3+-+-+L+-#
2PzP-+-zPPzP”
1+Q+-+RmK-!
xabcdefghy
What did White play here? After due consideration White went for 25. Qf5 and after Bd6 (Rd4 was forced) White played 25. Be4 to clinch the game!
(3) Mfazwe,L – Willenberg,A [D97]
(3), 14.03.2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0–0 7.e4 Nfd7 8.Bf4 c6 9.Be2 Nb6
10.Qc5 Bg4 11.Rd1 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Na6 13.Qa3 Nc4 14.Qb3 Na5 15.Qc2 Bxd4 16.0–0 b5 17.e5 Qb6
18.Ne2 Bc5 19.Bh6 Rfd8 20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.e6 f6 22.Nf4 Nb4 23.Qb1 g5 24.Qf5 Bd6 25.Be4 1–0
The last game that I have access to is against Kenny Willenberg. Kenny threw everything into this game but Mfazwe was up to the task and defended everything. He found some tactical shots which greatly assisted matters as well. The players played all out as this was the decider!
XABCDEFGHY
8-tr-+-trk+(
7+p+-+pwqp’
6psN-+l+n+&
5+-zp-+p+Q%
4R+-+-+-sN$
3+P+P+-+-#
2-zPP+-+PzP”
1+-+-+RmK-!
xabcdefghy
What would you play here as Black? There is a bit of pressure on Black. Black found
…….. pawn to c4 which allowed some tactical chances on the diagonal.
(4) Willenberg,K – Mfazwe,L [B23]
(4), 14.03.2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 e6 6.d3 Ne7 7.0–0 0–0 8.Qe1 d5 9.Bb3 Nbc6 10.Qh4 Na5 11.f5 gxf5 12.Bh6 Ng6 13.Qh5 Bxh6 14.Qxh6 Qf6 15.exf5 exf5 16.Nxd5 Qg7 17.Qh5 Nxb3 18.axb3 a6 19.Nb6 Rb8 20.Ra4 Be6 21.Nh4 c4 22.Kh1 cxd3 23.cxd3 Rbd8 24.Nxf5 Bxf5 25.Qxf5 Qe5 26.Qh3 Qe2 27.Qf3 Qxf3 28.Rxf3 Rfe8 29.h3 Re1+ 30.Kh2 Rd1 31.Rg4 R8xd3 32.Rgg3 Rxf3 33.Rxf3 Rd6 34.Nc4 Rd5 35.Ne3 Rb5 36.Ng4 Kg7 37.Nf6 Ne5 38.Nh5+ Kh6 39.Rf5 Nf3+ 40.Rxf3 ½–½
So, congratulation on all who was involved in this event. Well done. We shall look forward to this event again next year as I sincerely believe that every town in the Cape Winelands should have an open event that bears the name of the town.
One player that would’ve been glad that the event was being staged was Peter Micklem. His family arranged a celebration of his life as he had passed away at the age of 79. I learnt a number of things about Peter that I didn’t know about before. Peter had six children who all spoke beautifully at the event.
Peter had interests in a wide variety of things, and this was reflected in the ceremony and the leaflet. The back of the leaflet emphasised his belief in education and chess. If you look at the bottom of the leaflet you will see the vine, the wine bottle, the books and the chess pieces. All of these were part of his life. His family and friends came to celebrate his life and on display on tables were aspects of his life. There were books, wines, sugar cane and other things that Peter had made on the farm. The attendees were requested to take anything they want with them to remember him by.
Cecil Cupido, former Boland Chess president recounted to me that Peter wanted to be an Anglican priest early in his life but the call to farm was also a strong one. Peter later established a church and paid the salary of the priest for some time. Daniel Wium travelled all the way from Bloemfontein and told us how he spent not only his student days but even post-varsity weekends at the farm where he and Peter would drink some wine and talk about life and chess. My brother in law Jacques Frick who attended the event with me recognised some of the wine as Peter had introduced him to wine making.
One fact that astounded me was that Peter had registered at the age of 75 at the University of Stellenbosch in the Masters programme to study agriculture. Peter had some cutting edge ideas in agriculture in the area of pecan nut farming and was willing to experiment with them. He never finished but the fact that he registered at the University of Stellenbosch was in itself astounding. Many of the speakers recalled Peters passion for chess and reminded us that Peter was the forerunner of many development campaigns not only ion the Cape Winelands but also in Khayalitsha. Peter’s wife in a short conversation reminded me how she used to take the results in at events where she had accompanied Peter.
His eldest daughter, Marie, informed us that Peter had a difficult relationship with God towards the end f his life. She was however glad that Peter had grounded her in the Lord and she told us about the parable of the Prodigal Son. She said that the father in the Prodigal Son parable was like the Lord, always keeping his eyes on the horizon to see if his child was coming home. This parable has personally meant so much to me as well and I understood exactly what she meant.
At the end of the celebration the family invited us to share in the fruits of the vine which we did. Many of us in the chess community engaged with one another as we all had individual experiences with Peter.
Regards
Lyndon.
