Piecing together the pieces that make up The Black Chronicles RFTDS

The Black Chronicles is a book written from a vulnerable position. It is mostly written from the perspective of a young boy child who has experienced neglect and witnessed abuse from his father . He is at a point where he realises that all this is unnatural, it does not feel right. For one the father needs to answer for the negative environment he has created in the home; this hostile setting conducive for the brewing of hate, fear and anger.

This youth is also confronted by the inevitability of growth and fears that he might grow to be just as his father is: abusive to his women (plural) and neglectful to his children. This is a reality the boy fears and dreads as he, unlike his other siblings who have adjusted and acclimatized to the environment, is sensitive. Though not mentioned in the book, he has experienced love from his mother and his other siblings are raised by a stepmother who now lives with the father.
So when this boy who has had the experience of love is put in this environment full of hate and anger, he starts to feel conflicted and realises he has to confront his father about it. But his father never has time to listen to his kids so the boy puts it all on paper. Thus in the first part of the book you have the young man's concerns as he holds his father hostage and forces him to listen and spend time with him. The book will essentially hold my father hostage as at some point he will read it and finally listen to the 16 year old me.

The other vulnerable voice through which the book speaks is of a young girl who had just passed and feels her family and community are all responsible for her death. She feels that their lack of action and neglect has led to her demise. The girl can be assumed to have died from the hands of her blesser/sugar daddy or from a virus that can be contracted through promiscuity which society condoned through their silence and inaction against such.
Letter to my pallbearers speaks to every member of society and asks of them, what role are you playing to protect the vulnerable in society? Because if you do not play any protective role, you are complicit and could be accused of playing a supportive role for the perpetrators of abuse.

We also hear the voices of women in abusive relationships struggling to get out for reasons of dependency and fear of social ridicule if they were to leave their husbands and return to their father's homes. The piece titled "Entropy" wakes us up to another kind of abuse other than the common known physical abuse... These women are not fictitious, they are my stepmothers. Some went out, some could not and are held prisoners in their own homes.

As the reading progresses, so do the concerns of the growing young boy and he elaborates on those concerns he spoke of while holding his father hostage. He paints his concerns and confusions about love on "Love's Grief", he wonders about the right time and age to wed on "Stage and Age" as his peers have married at certain ages; he voices out his political opinions for his father's benefit on a few pieces on the section while also dealing with the grief from a loss of a dearest sister.

The section concludes with pieces that highlight the effects these abuses in a household have on the community as a whole. We see the insensitivity of the male character on "The Birth and Death of Hate" which aims to demonstrate the effects of raising kids under hostile environment and the effects it has on the black community. This is not to excuse the abusers and violent characters in our communities as forces of nature arising from our own creations. This is rather to help us understand that our actions have far reaching consequences for the whole community.

The next section titled "The Black Heart and All its Darkness" deals with the struggles to love for that same boy raised under a household with no love. He does not know what love is. He thinks love is that elusive feeling that cannot be explained. He thinks love is like a mirage that he needs to be constantly chasing after just for the cause. He also thinks love is pain, emotional pain caused by frustrations and unsatisfied needs for attention. He has a void inside created in the house hold he grew up in and he constantly seeks a young maiden who could just fill it up for him. He seeks a girl, a lady, a woman who could make him feel loved so he could feel whole again. He is broken. The saddest thing is that in such a broken community where all the parents are alike, he is doomed to meet a woman just as broken as he is and they will continue to break each other apart...or he will just finally settle for being "The Dark Blanket" in those cold nights.

This section just demonstrates the difficulty of loving and finding love when you have never seen love; never experienced love nor even been loved enough to give it. Love and Pain become one. The ying and the yang! The good and the bad! Food and Liquor! A trick and a treat!

Realising the challenges of life as presented by his own history, the young man starts thinking about things beyond himself. He looks for inspiration to go on and starts contemplating about the value of a life. The section on "Black Thoughts and Other Emotions" represent a transcendence from the self and into greatness. The youth starts contemplating about the meaning of his life and resolves to give meaning to his life through his actions. He resolves to make a difference in his surroundings and bring some light to this darkness he was raised in. He makes "A Solemn Resolve" to live and be remembered for what he did.

The last section is titled "Black Progress". It represents hope in that the new generation will do things differently. It starts off with a piece titled "A Baby Born". This baby brings hope and new vibrancy to the black community. This baby, "The Black Pawn" represents the hope and future leaders of the black community.

 This baby will be guided through to promotion by this young man who had to face and overcome all of his personal and emotional struggles to get here. Chess might be the new baby born in the black community or it could even be the young chess Phenom, the young master Mhango who is the new baby born representing this bright new light that suddenly shines in the black community.
This section represents new hope and the piece titled "The Chronicle" reminds us not to make our struggles the inheritance of our children. It reminds us that we need to confront and conquer our challenges so the next generation does not have to. They will have their own struggles waiting for them.

This book is written more from heart than mind. It is more vulnerable than anything and inspires the same emotions from the reader. It allows you to feel and exposes your vulnerability then it carries you through that roller coaster of feelings to bring you to the next level of your existence. That of living for a bigger purpose than yourself. Selfless service to your community and to the next generation. That is a bigger purpose than living for self-enrichment.

This is more a work of heart than a work of art. And yes, it is dedicated to my beloved late younger sister Beatrice, forever the love of my life. The closest soul to mine, closest thing to an angel I'd ever known...then she became one.

I hope this sheds some light to those who own a copy. Happy reading.

I am hoping the next question after this essay would be "where can we get a copy of this book"?

To which I will say: www.theblackchronicles.net

Call or whatsapp :0715814519

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Turkish Delight

A nine hour flight takes them from OR Tambo International Airport to Istanbul in Turkey where they have to connect to a City in Turkey known as Konya. It is a one hour flight to get there. In total, it took ten hours of flying to get team South Africa to Konya in Turkey for the World U16 Olympiads. Msogwaba Chess Club has a player in Europe, this here is an incredible milestone.

As soon as they arrive, CM Banele Mhango complains about the weather in Konya. It is extremely cold the whole day through. Well, at least they get a day after arrival to acclimatize and get over the jet leg. As it happens, that was not the only thing this international Chess super star of ours had to deal with.

Playing board 2 for the South African U16 Chess Team in the World U16 Olympiads, CM Mhango is paired against a 2300+ rated Fide Master from Poland for the fisrt round. We had the white pieces which is usually an advantage for the Candidate Master(Fide Master elect), he hardly loses on the white pieces. We were soon to discover that the levels are different. 2300+ rating in the World stage over the board is no deception. Poland made light work of the SA team beating them 3.5/4 with only a draw on board 4. Our young Master lost.

Game two he is paired against an even higher rated player. Still playing board 2 for SA, Mhango plays a 2400+ rated International Master from Azerbaijan. He has the black pieces this time. We have to be worried, but we chose not to. The recent World Chess Championship between Caruana Fabiano and Magnus Carlsen has taught us that Black is still ok. In fact, playing the black pieces or the white pieces does not offer an obvious advantage anymore. That is why the World Chess Championship 2018 ended in 12 successive draws till it had to be decided on tie breaks. We were calm as it starts but the game soon turned south and before it got worse Banele resigned. He was getting frustrated now, none of his strategies are working for him. He felt he could give it one more try since next game he had the white pieces. This players are strong but he still felt he was strong enough to compete against them.

Game three, he took a break while South Africa played Ireland then returned on game 4 to take another chance against a Mexican Candidate Master rated 2000+. Still above young Mhango but our CM felt his punches could reach that high. They did not. It sent him to a mini depression. Never in a very long time has CM Banele Mhango played a Chess tournament and lost three consecutive games like this. The boy has gotten so used to winning losing felt too strange. He suddenly missed home. Not home where family is but rather home where winning is easier. He was so used to winning that winning felt familiar and when he started losing, he felt lost. He complained that these people play a different kind of Chess than he was used to. They think differently, they respond differently and it just confuses him. He was frustrated and did not know how to prepare for the next game. I have never played on that level myself, I cannot assist. I could only sympathise.

I decided to call for help on his behalf. I contacted South Africa's current National Chess Champion International Master Johaness Mabusela. He's always been supportive and offered to be there for the young Master whenever he needed him. Well he needed him right now and IM Mabu jumped to his rescue. He analysed Banele's previous games and immediately highlighted on a few Chess principles Mhango had broken. He reminded him of the importance of imbalances and that when ever his position was bad, he needed to focus on the few positives and advatages it offered and build on those. Then he added some few words of encouragement to pick the young man's spirit by reminding him never to fear his opponents regardless of their rating and title.

After this session with IM Mabusela, CM Mhango never lost a single one of the remaining five games he played. The next game was a draw against a Turkish patzer which was followed by a win against a 1500+ from Kyrgyzstan and a draw against a 2000+ rated player from Romania. He followed up with another win against an Algerian Fide Master of equal strength then finished with another draw against another 2000+ rated player from Iceland.

Often times we miss the distractive impacts of sending our players out to compete in higher levels of competition without properly preparing them for it. I read a quote once some time ago that reads: "It is cruel to put a child in a position where they care about winning and not prepare them for it."

Chess is a highly personal sport and losing a game, no matter the level of strength of the opponent, affects you personally and emotionally.

I hope, from this experience Chess South Africa realises that it was a mistake to send a team to the World U16 Olympiads without offering them any form of training or preparation before hand. The senior team received coaching from a Grand Master and even travelled with the Coach to assist them with game preparations and other much needed coaching during that tense period. Hopefully the same can be done for the Youth team in future. South Africa has enough International Masters with the needed experience and exposure, Chessa can consider using their expertise and experience to support the junior team in future. It is in the juniors where the future of chess in the country lies and we cannot afford to break their spirits in this manner so early in their Chess carreers. This was a great learning curve indeed.

South Africa finished at position 43 out of the 46 participating teams. The scores of all the other players are attached below.

This has been an incredible experience for our golden black boy here. After missing the World Youth twice in a row, the World U16 Olympiad gave him the similar experience he would have had at the World Youth. He has finally seen Europe and had lots of memorable experiences to treasure for ever. He has made new friends and strengthened old friendships within the International Chess Community. This has been a delightful Turkish experience in Konya.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the sponsors who made this trip possible. Talent would be wasted if it wasn't for your continued support.

The Children Matter organisation paid for the flights, all ten hours times two of them! We greatly appreciate your partnership. You give our youth a licence to dream.

To Kolano Consulting who paid for the registrations fees for the event, thank you. We know you have your hearts set in improving the black condition and this gesture of support from you demonstrates the role corporates can play in improving social conditions in black communities. You are our role models and our youth have leaders to look up to in you.

To Dr Mavuso of Kanyamazane medical center who paid to get us from Msogwaba to OR Tambo International Airport- we trust we always have your support as a community of Msogwaba. Your dedication in supporting sports development in our community fuels our desires to do more because we know that when we need you, you do what you can and it is appreciated. Every community needs a good doctor!

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The Black Chronicles' Argument

The Black Chronicles makes a philosophical argument on the black commuity. The argument is that the black situation will continue being perpetuated from generation to generation as long as nothing changes. The violence will continue, the abuse of women and children will become a norm for as long as fathers leave their sons development to chance; for as long as mothers allow their daughters to learn the ropes on their own. The poverty and unemployment will also persist as long as we continue doing the very things our parents were doing, in the same way they were doing it , that is aspiring for employment and afraid to initiate ventures of passion. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Our children will never learn how to love as long as we love the same way that our parents where taught to love by a system of hate.

The black community is cast into the shadow of time. We are stuck in the dark and this is the result of the apartheid system that governed our country less than a generation ago. Our communities were formerly bantu stans and labour reserves that were never intended for productive human existence. Even their setups do not inspire creativity which makes it extremely difficult for most people coming from there to flourish in life. There are no recreation parks, no relaxations spaces nor any social space open to all members of the community to allow for open social interaction. All we have are a lot of tarvens and churches; a space for the "unholy" alcohol drinkers and a space for the holy and faithful God fearers. The dichotomy found in the black community...if your father was a pastor, then you grow up in church and become a devout christian. If your father was a drinker, then your fate is set. No other options available in our communities. This also perpetuates a division within a community as there are no places where the people from each side can freely come together to socially interact.

On top of the religious and social division, we now have political structures which also seem to be causing more divisions and highlighting differences in individuals from party to party and from structure to structure. These divisions pose a challenge for the black community when people have to engage on ways to improve the community and offer platforms for those with ideas intended to build a better tomorrow for our children.

All of these divisions, all of the anger, the hate , the violence and fear are the legacies of apartheid. The after effects of a traumatic period from which no Black South African has fully recovered. No Black Community has fully rid itself from the negative emotions that were part of the daily experience in the townships during apartheid.  People are going on about their lives hoping the memories of the past will stay in the past but they do not. The past has shaped our parents in ways that they are unaware of, subconciously influencing their every thought and decision. The fear and anger of the past is continuosly being fed into the hearts and souls of the next generation by their parents who sucked it from the breasts of their mothers.

How else would you explain the continous abuse of children by their parents and neighbours in the community? When a mother would beat up a 2 year old, full palm clap on the face for breaking a few eggs.

When a father takes out a leather belt and whips with all his might on the naked body of a 3 year old son who scratched his favourite record (CD).

Such acts of violence promote violence in the household and community and are a result of a violent background. These acts also instil fear in the hearts of the children, which further victimise and make them targets for more abuse such as molestations. When an abused child is molested, they feel they have no one to turn to. It is even more difficult when the same person molesting them is the head of the household whom is feared by everyone in the household. Sadly this is usually the scenario: the father, head of the household is a violent man who beats up his wife until she is round on the face. The wife, being abused takes out her anger and frustrations to the kids who are now afraid of her wrath. Now when the father starts molesting the kids, they feel they have no one to turn to as they are afraid of the mother and the mother is afraid of her own husband. Thus the kids feel that they are doomed.

The Black Chronicles puts all this into perspective and paints the picture to the reader and holds it up with the implicit question; do you think this is right? Do you realise how this abuse and violence is destroying our communities.

The book challenges the reader to reflect on their actions. Reflect on the nature and structures of our communities. Upon reflecting, the reader will then have to ask themselves if their contribution in their environment is life giving or life threatening. What role are you playing in the shaping of a better community for the future?

There is a scientific concept known as Enthropy that my scientist friend once explained to me. The concept of Enthropy states that everything is in a state of constant decay. This means that the nature of things, anything is constantly deteriorating and if we do nothing to maintain or improve it, it will only get worse. This is true for relationships. This is also true for our communities. If we do nothing to improve ourselves, our communities will not improve. If we do not make conscious decisions to improve, the subconcious ones will be made and they will be influenced by the hate, anger and fear that we have inherited from our parents who were broken by a syetem of hate.

The Black Chronicles says to the reader, before you punish your child for that infraction, think carefully if this decision is not influenced by an anger the child has nothing to do with. We need to deal with these emotions decisively but I am afraid I don't have any solutions to offer on how to psychologically deal with them. However what I do feel I am in position to offer is the advice that we consider our actions and constatly reflect back on the decisions we have made and correct where we find the decision was inspired by fear or anger. The old system and its emotional impacts has to end in this generation.

There is a section in the book titled: Black Progress. This section shows that there is hope that change is possible as long as our actions are geared towards creating that change. New rolemodels are made, champions are created and some light is coming to the dark side. The is a poem here titled The Chronicle. This poem encourages us not to allow our own struggles to become our children's struggles. We have the responsibility to deal with our own challenges until there is none of hem left when our children grow. That is improvement. The old one's may have failed in dealing with apartheid completely but they did their part, the laws and politics have changed. It is ours now to deal with the emotional impacts of it. The inferiority complexes, the anger and abuse that was planted in our communities. It is on us now to uproot them and get rid of them for good so our children start on a slade cleaner than ours

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Life in a time of death

We loved life in a time of death

See I meant to put one in you but decided to keep the the one in me

So I let the seeds fall in the bag, dear soil

See i walk around with a bag full of seeds

And you say i could throw them anywhere i please

On the belly, in the button or in the face while on your knees

But the thought of it in your belly makes your insides coil

Until the day it slipped and the seed was sown

You planned to deal before it shown

You preferred its death to your own

pretty fertile yet still not grown

A life was lost and you felt so bad

Rather that feeling than killing your dad

For his heart is too weak and gets weaker when he's mad

But his life has been lived yet for it ours is dead

Our pain forever remains for we loved a life in a time of death

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Dead-end to Greece

The dead-end to Greece 2018

After running a very successful awareness campaign on the champion's qualification to play in the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece, we finally secured two potential sponsors. The first was from the National Chess Federation, Chess South Africa, Chessa.

On the 11th of September 2018, the interim treasurer of Chessa Geraldine Engelman sends an email stating that the national federation has resolved to sponsor Banele Mhango, the player with all expenses of only one of the remaining international events. The player was requested to respond in writing specifying which event he would like to attend. We replied on email and Chessa also requested the player's parents contacts so they could call and inform them of their intentions, which they did. A call was made to Banele's mother to such effect. She later called me unable to contain her excitement on behalf of her son, "he's finally going to Greece, wow!". I also thought it was final so I replied "yes of course. The boy worked hard to make it this far, he deserves it."



I immediately got on the phone and started calling the other potential sponsors I was in communication with informing them that the player's World Youth expenses were covered by the national federation. Expenses which where not much to be honest. The player's accommodation and catering, which usually costs the bulk of the expenses, was covered by the hosts federation (Greece) as he is the invited player (the national U16 Champion). The player's federation only needs to pay for his registration of R2000 and his flight which ranged between R8000- R10000 at the time. I called everyone who was in support of the campaign from the journalists who wrote the articles to the radio stations that gave us interviews. Children Matter, the organisation that sponsored The Banele Mhango Open tournament informs us their support is always available when we need it. They were the second sponsor.

The first strange thing to happen, on Thursday the 13th of September on our way to Mozambique for a Chess tournament I receive an email from the national federation asking that I inform Mpumalanga Chess and National Youth commission President Vicky Magu of their intention to support the player. I obliged with the understanding that Mr. Magu was being informed for the purpose of registering the player. This of course is something Chessa could do from within its structures. After informing him on Whats-app, Mr. Magu replied saying it was too late, player registration for WY is closed and even if it was not we were still out of time for visa applications as they require 30 working days for processing. Mr. Magu was just very dismissive of all concerns which would be shocking and somewhat strange if I had never communicated with him before on the WY subject.

I remember the previous year he advised us not to even campaign for WY in Uruguay as it was too expensive. His advice was to stick to Africa and he even played a big role in ensuring the player got to participate in the African Youth Chess Championships (AYCC) in Egypt by listing him as an invited player which meant his accommodation and catering was covered by the host federation. This greatly reduced the load and made it possible for Banele to earn his title in Egypt.

This year again Mr. Magu reminded me not to worry about WY and let the boy play the African Youth only, "let him be an African Champion, WY in unnecessarily expensive" Vicky said over the phone and he later cemented his statement with a text stating same "Let the boy play Africa Youth".

Now when his dismissive attitude is considered in light of the fact that no communication regarding WY has been made to us since 3 months ago when we were notified of the selection, it becomes suspicious. In the past three months we have not been informed who the team manager for WY would be so we know to communicate directly to the manager in making payments arrangements and so forth. With previous international events a Whats-app group was created were information on visa applications and other arrangements is shared but this time nothing of such has been created which is why it was quite shocking to discover that the WY registration was closed and that we were late for visa applications.

I forwarded Mr. Magu's communications to Chessa and Mpumalanga. Chessa replied saying they are still investigating whether what Mr. Magu was saying had any truth to it. They promised to get back to me. Days went on with me constantly pressing them for feedback but they kept stalling. Chessa, through their treasurer finally replied that they were getting tired of my persistence and that they have just learned that we have not been following proper communications protocol. According to their new discovery, they found that they need to communicate with the player through the member Province which the player is representing and not through the manager/coach. That was when communication broke. A few days later after observing proper protocol and communicating through the Mpumalanga Province representatives, I'm assuming President or very likely Secretary, Chessa sends a letter to Mpumalanga with me copied stating that they can no longer be able to sponsor the player. Dream shuttering!!!

I forwarded the letter to Children Matter who responded quick and effective requesting all the required amounts to be paid and the payment schedules. They were ready to take care of everything. I now started communicating with Chessa interim President Mr. Joe Mahomole asking him if we could proceed with payments to get the player registered. He talked to Mr. Magu who told him it was still possible to register but a late registration penalty fee of €80 was charged. A sudden twist of events. Mr. Mahomole wrote the organisers asking if they could waiver the penalty fee as the delay was a fault of Chessa but the organisers said it was not possible. Children Matter did not mind, we were just waiting for the go-ahead from Chessa so we could register and hurry up and buy the ticket. They took whole days to reply to emails and whats-app texts and phone calls were not going through. When Mr. Mahomole finally got back to me we discovered it was too late for the visa applications which actually took 10-15 working days to process, not 30 working days as Mr. Magu had initially told us. With only about 11 working days remaining, we tried to find out if it was possible to arrange an emergency/ express visa but were informed that Schengen states do not offer emergency visas except in a case of death. All our hopes faded. The World Youth Chess Championships slipped through our fingers once again.

Looking at the list of players travelling to the WY I often find myself wondering if there is a chance that all this is part of a greater plan to keep certain "kinds" of players from attending prestigious events such as the WY where they will gain exposure to a certain level of Chess thus cementing their place as the future of SA Chess. It feels and mostly appears that some people within the structures are agents working to keep some of our kids down and oppressed no matter how hard we work in trying to break these barriers; no matter how much these kids excel in their performances there still exist some very committed gate keepers on the way up who make a living blocking junior players of a certain hue from going overseas.

But then I could be wrong, the actual issue could be on the fact that travelling to overseas tournaments with unaccompanied kids make it difficult for the managers to find time to enjoy themselves at the expense of the National Federation. Going to Greece for a holiday is not a luxury anyone can afford and if it comes about you would not want to waste that opportunity running after some junior Champion who could not afford to have an accompanying adult come with them.

This is all shear speculation I know, but what are we left to do but speculate when such things keep happening in our midst and no one is held accountable?

Who is to hold Chessa accountable for going back on their word? A whole national federation making a promise, a commitment to a whole national champion and then suddenly retracting as if it means nothing?

Who is to hold the President of Youth Commission Mr. Vicky Magu accountable for misinforming us that the registration is closed and that there was nothing that could be done since visa applications were also closed when it wasn't so? When you are representing the official structure from where information is disseminated, how are you or the structure ever to be trusted again after that?

The whole Chess South Africa interim structure has blundered in this regard and deserves to answer for what they did. But who are they to answer to.

The list of South African Players representing at the World Youth in Greece is attached.

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The Mozambique Experience

The Mozambique Experience

Early Thursday morning we fly down do the land of our own..kahhina, home of our grand parents( me and mine). I am excited as this feels like an opportunity to brush up on my Shangaan (my granny would be proud). We touch down on the Maputo airport all excited about the prospects of seeing the beach, the fish market and the Mozambican night life...and of course the Chess games as they promised to be quite a spectacle with the top players of over 6 African countries  bound to clash over the chess board...it’s a looming quiet cold war.

After almost an hour of waiting under the scorching Maputo sun we  finally get into our hired car and drive to the hotel located just 5 kilometres from the airport and conveniently enough 3 km from  the playing venue which was just a walking distance to the South Beach. We were in the thick of things. We checked in and had some refreshments from the hotel, and then it was time to visit the fish market for our lunch. This was the experience I have been looking forward to the most.

The Maputo Fish market is a market place located on the South Beach front catering for the thousands of hungry lovers of the sea with a large variety of seafood, fresh fish straight from the nearby oceans: calamari ( not just the rings we are used to in South Africa but the full animal with a body and tentacles), oysters, lobsters, crabs, shells, angel fish and many more. The seafood lovers’ heaven on earth.

We walked around the whole market place taking pictures of the magnificent fish displayed in different sizes lined up in a huge hallway choosing the fish we would have for lunch. Our chosen restaurateur was packing it up for preparation...just as we would like to have it. We opted for grilled for the most that are grill-able

.

Lunch was served and the experience was mouth-watering. The softness of the fish...the garlic taste and smell, the freshness was unquestionable. We ate until we were tired of eating. It is impossible to get enough of such goodness.

Thursday went on smoothly. We had a good day of acclimatizing to the Mozambican heat and the cool Maputo ocean breeze...who am kidding...the heat was not something we needed to get used to, Nelspruit is just as hot. We took a walk around the beach too careful not to get wet. I mean  it was only Thursday afternoon...there'll be plenty of time to get more than just our feet wet...if you know what I mean (*wink*)

Early Friday morning we wake up to the playing venue. The drive took exactly 4minutes. The organiser told us to be at the venue by 8am as the first round was scheduled to start at 9am. We kept to the time and we met all the African nationalities represented. Most notable is the ever so relaxed Zambian International Master Gillan Bwalya accompanied by his good friend and probably his student, Eric Siamayuwa. We met up with them in the morning and they shared with us the travelling pains of crossing Zimbabwe to get to Mozambique in one day. How they were given only 3 days to get across Zim to Moz and back; how this meant they had to travel over 1000 kilometres in one day and be sure to pass Zim on Friday otherwise they would run out of time. Hard to imagine how tired they must have been from so many hours of travelling. Yet they were there all smiles and ready to play.

Also present in the Moz Open was Malawi represented by their most valuable Chess export to SA, the very famous Candidate Master Joseph Mwale also know as "The Fear" (GM Fear to be exact) as he is known to inspire fear in the hearts of weaker Grand Masters. He was there to prove that International Masters are no threat to him.

Zimbabwean Spencer Masango looked uncertain about his prospects as he walked around looking shaken. One would swear he had already met The Fear...maybe they had a blitzing sparring the night before, I wouldn’t know. Also standing for Zimbabwe was a junior player named Roy Mwadzura who also gave an impressive performance.

Team South Africa also took the opportunity to introduce Mozambique to their newly earned Fide Master title in the person of the much talented Candidate Master Banele Mhango who was accompanied by Children Matter (his sponsor) representative Mr. Muzenda Solo and his talent Manager Mr. Eddie Bhila who both decided that since it is an Open tournament, why not join in the fun? Also from team South Africa was Mr. Alfred Pesa who is arguably the strongest senior player in the country (I could be wrong). Mr Pesa had unfortunately encountered the most bizarre kind of trickery at the border as he entered Mozambique on the Thursday afternoon. He accepted the exchange R1000 (One thousand rands) for 700 Mt (seven hundred meticais). By the way, the exchange rate for rand to metical is R1=4mt so it is beyond bizarre that a grown chess player would accept this. But we now know that there exist all kinds of hustlers at the Mozambican borders ready to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists. Some are suspected to use muti to disorientate their victim.  Mr. Pesa survived, the Mozambique Chess Federation took good care of him.

Team Swaziland and Team Lesotho were also represented in large numbers. No notable names from each of these teams sadly. In fact I was surprised to hear there was Chess in Swaziland and upon expressing this in my South African Swati, Vuyo  Nxumalo and his Swaziland teammates threatened to swear at me so hard that I forget my way back home with my "fong-kong Swati language" ("nalesiSwati sakho se fong-kong"). I could not dare take chances, I hear their ancestors fought many battles with curse words swearing at their armed opponents with such passions that they lost their senses and turned against each other.

The host federation was well represented by their top player, the nerdy Candidate Master Paiva Donaldo who was always noticeably dressed for the podium finish from day1. The man makes chess look like Quantum Physics. I was however looking forward to seeing Vasco Viageiro, the Moz top Junior Player whom I once watched beat Africa's number 1 on African Elite Online Chess Arena (it was on  time odds of course but I was still impressed).

The time was now past eleven and no single game had started. The Chief Arbiter explained that they had been waiting for a certain group of players and that they had finally arrived. The games would start at 12h00 and that we would have to play three rounds on the Friday so that we play only two on the saturday as they had a very important meeting to attend as the Mozambique Chess Federation Exec. Murmurs of protests were heard but quieted down with a promise to discuss the issue later on.

12h00 noon on the 14th of September 2018 the first round of the Mozambique BCI Chess Open started. On board 1 with a fide rating of 2300+ was the Zambian International Master Richmond Phiri followed on board 2 by his fellow country man and fellow International Master Gillan Bwalya with a fide rating of 2200+. On Board 3 was Malawian Candidate Master Joseph Mwale followed on board 4 by Mozambican Candidate Master Paiva Donaldo all with Fide ratings of 2200+. The cream of the Moz Open still unshaken. After round one they all remained as they were, at the top.

Round 2 started at 16h00. No ordinary person could have predicted what was to happen on this round; When the cream of the event was suddenly relegated to the lower boards so early; When suddenly the highest rated player of the tournament had to hope for second place. The pressure cook switched up way too early for IM Richmond Phiri when he faced with South African Muzenda Solo rated 1800+, a rating difference of more than 400 points. Maybe that is why the IM had 51minutes on the clock while Muzenda had only 12minutes. At 8minutes on the clock and a piece up against an IM who had 50minutes and a bad position, we still could not celebrate victory since a bad position was only a matter of opinion as a game could turn around quick as long as both kings were still standing. Besides, what is a minor piece lead against an IM?

Despite other IM's coming to board one to witness the humiliation of a titled player by an opponent he obviously took for granted, leaving with faces saddened on behalf of their fellow master who was seemingly pinning his hopes on time, we were still uncertain about victory. We had to wait. White in the verge of victory seeing that his time was going to give him problems, he offers black a draw to help him save face and also ease the pressure on himself. The International Master refused the draw. Psychologically this gave him some edge. Muzenda's draw offer meant to the IM that the player does not know how to finish him up; he is scared and probably worried about his time. Also, refusing the draw in an obviously lost position tells the lower rated opponent that the IM actually sees a win for himself in the position and intends to secure it, which adds the pressure on the time as Solo would now have to carefully assess, calculate and reassess and recalculate every move.

3 minutes on the clock and his King is being chased around by a Queen and a Rook, his own Rook, Queen and Knight are all on safe squares and as soon as black runs out of checks it will be game over. He just needs to make sure he moves his King to well considered squares and ensure he does not run out of time.

As the checks got fewer, pieces were exchanged and pawns were pushed. The ten seconds increments per move came in handy at this point and the IM just signed his score-sheet, wrote the scores, reached over across the table for Mr. Solo's score sheet and signed it then got up and left the board without acknowledging his opponent's victory. Not even a handshake from the IM. This was too much for Phiri to deal with in front of the crowd, he needed a quiet space somewhere alone where it would be safe for him to deal and possibly shed a tear.

There was great cheer all around the hall, players reaching out to Muzenda to shake his hand, pat his back and even give him hugs. He had brought down a Goliath on the Mozambican Soil and we were all there to witness it. He had achieved the impossible and made every player believe in themselves again. He had stood on the mountain top and shouted for all to hear that ratings are fallible and that IM's are just as much human as the rest of us. The man had become an inspiration just by winning one Chess game in a tournament of 7 rounds.

As we were leaving to go home for the night, Muzenda in wild excitement expressed that it would not matter if he never wins another game of this tournament. This win was enough for him. I have never heard a man glorify the name of God so many times as did Muzenda Solo after winning against IM Richmond Phiri. It had been a great day indeed. All Glory to the Almighty God.

Only two games were played on Friday. There was no way we could start another round at 8pm. Saturday the 15th came, it is round three and the injured IM is paired against a South African player again; The Fide Master-elect Banele Mhango also playing white on board 5. The game went on to a very tight position where every master I asked kept saying it was a draw; with light squared bishops on both sides and an equal number of pawns on the board; 2 minutes on the clock for both players but the pressure seemed to be more on the side of the young FM. After the bishops exchange, the pawns' race to promote saw the SA U/16 Champion falling a move behind and he gracefully resigned tilting his king and offering a hand to an IM who failed to do the same in his previous game.

It is quite interesting that after playing Mhango, IM Phiri was next paired with Mr. Pesa also of South Africa for yet another chance to redeem himself to the South African Chess Scene. He made light work of him. Not worth a page.

In round 4 Malawi's CM Mwale was paired against Zambian IM Bwalya and the two decided to save their energies for the next round and agreed to a contact-less draw after just 9 moves. I had to step up and remind them that the tournament rules do not allow draws before 10 moves are reached. It was the least I could do after Mwale bought me lunch on that day...and Gillan is just a cool guy. I could not bear to watch them both get given zeros on some technicality (*wink)

Round 5 started Sunday morning at 08h00am. An interesting arbitration challenge happens here. Still in the opening stage of the game player A plays his Knight to f3 and presses the clock. His opponent rises up and leaves the board. When player B returns he finds the knight has now been moved to e2 and the notation on player A shows the move Ne2. Player B confronted player  A about this concern asking how come is the Knight suddenly on e2. Player A simply replied "call the arbiter".

When the arbiter arrived on the board player A simply shows what his score sheet says and uses his last recorded move as proof and points out that player B did not have the last move notated.

Player B calls for witnesses from the board immediately next to theirs and asks them what they saw. One supports that he also initially saw the Knight played on f3, and the other claims he only looked much later and only saw the Knight on e2.

The situation was made even more stressful by the fact that player A spoke only Portuguese and player B could not understand Portuguese so every time one player explained his own version of events a translator had to be involved. Each time the translator was relaying to the other player what his opponent is saying, the other player had to interrupt and correct the version. This went on for almost an hour until it was decided that there was no way to satisfactorily resolve this matter. Players were now complaining that the game was going to delay the commencement of the next round and ultimately, the prize giving will be at mid-night if we try to resolve this.

The organisers ended up begging player B to let the matter slide claiming that "a knight on e2 does not greatly disadvantage your position just as a Knight on f3 does not necessarily advantage you". But player B was complaining as a matter of principle.

It was established that player B committed the first offence by leaving the board when his clock was running and it was his turn to play. In this case, as we are led to believe, two wrongs make a right.

Ten minutes after they decided to resume play player A gets up to go to the bathroom while his clock was running. Player B calls the arbiter and 3minutes is deducted from player A as punishment. Player B continues to check mate player A and the Arbiter pronounces that "all is well that ends well" asking player B to let sleeping dogs lie. Player B did but it still bothers him that the truth was still unknown and a player was allowed to get away with cheating just because the arbiters could not investigate. Player A on the other hand might be feeling unsatisfied that a player was allowed to get away with falsely accusing him of cheating just because the arbiters could not investigate.

In round 6 the fake smiles had worn off, the competition was approaching its most tense stage and the only person who seemed to have a more genuine smile still was Zambian IM Gillan Bwalya who was now paired with Zimbabwean Spencer Masango. Real fireworks on the board. Spencer came into the board confident after defeating Mozambique’s number 1 player Candidate Master Paiva Donaldo on round 5. He did not expect the fast blows from IM Bwalya coming at him from all angles. This loss sent Masango straight to the arms of Malawi’s Fear were the tender hands of CM Mwale were ready to smother him with a caress without care. It was really sad how The Fear kept his opponent hopeful that a draw was possible while Spencer's time kept running down. That game really died of lack of oxygen, as far as Masango was concerned, it was still salvageable. It is no wonder that 30 minutes after Mwale had left the board and the score sheets were signed, he was still seated on his chair analysing with anyone who would entertain him. The post-mortem was sad as everyone kept demonstrating to him that he was never going to be able to catch Mwale's last pawn with his Knight. "It was lost! Lost! Lost! LOST!!" said a disinterested Gillan seemingly tired of analyzing the same thing over and over.

It had certainly been a great Mozambique Experience for almost everyone who attended. The Moz Experience goes even beyond the Chess playing venue. Career Chess players know that the experience of a tournament is 50% on the board and 50% off the board. There's more than meets the page in this chess reporting. The night life of the Maputo Club scene would fill up even more pages leaving you dear reader gasping for air.

The Mozambique BCI Chess Open 2018 had more media coverage than a regular crime scene in a South African Township. More than four television stations were covering the event, interviewing local players, interviewing the event organizers and the sponsor's representatives on the scene. I guess this is what happens when a corporate sponsor gets involved with Chess; the sport suddenly becomes news worthy. The sponsoring bank could not allow for their good work of social responsibility to go unnoticed. It is indeed a lesson for tournament organizers to choose carefully who they partner with in the promotion of Chess, as the right partner could introduce you to new levels of exposure.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mozambique Chess Federation for organisation such a fantastic Chess tournament in such a relaxed venue of Maputo. A big congratulations to the big winners of the night, IM Bwalya Gillan for winning the gold , CM Mwale Joseph for winning silver (both with equal points of 6/7) and the bronze medallist for the night, Mozambique's number 1 player CM Paiva Donaldo with a score of 5.5/7.

 

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