17 Sep 2014

A team of 12 young chess players left for the 2014 World Youth Chess Championships on September 17.

The two-week competition that is being held in Durban, South Africa starts on September 18 until end of the month. Botswana Chess Federation public relations director, Keenese Katisenge said the team comprised players aged between six and 17 years.  The competition will be played in the Under-8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 categories.

Katisenge said in selecting the team, BCF considered performances of players during tournaments hosted by the federation from January 2014, including the Aifficiency Year Opener, Metropolitan National Chess Championships, Morongwa Individual Chess Championships, and Gaborone Open International Chess Tournament.

“The players selected have been showing consistent performances in the past years. Some like Marape Marape Junior represented Botswana at the 2013 Africa Youth Championships in South Africa,” Katisenge said.

Katisenge explained that the world championships would be played in 11 rounds swiss system format with a time allocation of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 seconds per move.

“The World Youth Chess Championships offer young players exposure and experience as they are given an opportunity to play with more experienced players from Europe, America and Asia and gain FIDE ratings and titles,” Katisenge added.

The team coached by FIDE instructor Israel Makwati and development instructor Jeremiah Dikgang comprises the following players:

Naledi Marape (girls under-8) Bofelo Moupi (boys under-8), Celestinah Dambe (girls under-10), Waabo Makwati (boys under-10), Onneetse Rankwane (girls under-12), Marape Marape Jnr (boys under-12), Susan Sethebe (girls under-14), Tebogo Chilume (girls under 14), Nchidzi Motshusi (girls under-16), Mbaki Sonny (boys under-16), Chawana Casino (girls under-18), Bernard Chaka (boys under-18). ENDS