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!
So proud of him....
ReplyDeleteA good learning experience for the participating Champ proudly South African they made us,as for the challenges what a learning curve from all involve hope you take over the world stage once more next year.👏👏👏👏👏
ReplyDeleteGood job Eddie it all started as a dream and now it's a reality appreciate the fact that Msogwaba is where it is now on the map because of your selfless contribution. All the best keeping my fingers crossed for our young star Banele Mhango
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