South African Chess in Crisis
In the past, South African chess players were competing for the top spot in Africa. Today, the fiercest competition is taking place between the two parties claiming to be in charge of Chess South Africa (Chessa).
Note that this is an opinion piece based on what I have heard, experienced and observed, and it should not be cited as official information. I am currently the third highest rated female player in South Africa, and I have represented the South African team at the 2018 World Chess Olympiad and the 2020 Online Olympiad.
Since 2018, South African chess has been in turmoil as war has raged between the Chessa Executive board (led by Hendrik du Toit) and the Chessa Interim Executive board (led by Joe Mahomole). Multiple elections have been held and disputed, court rulings have been made and appealed, and chess in the country has suffered more and more. Players and parents have no idea who the legitimate Chessa board is: at the start of 2021, I surveyed 14 of the country’s top active senior players, and only 1 player felt certain that they knew who the legitimate leadership was (I am currently working on a full report of the player survey). The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has been briefed by both parties in a blame game with racial undertones, and I have heard (unofficial sources) that Chessa has lost substantial Lotto funding as a result of the maladministration and leadership struggle.
The crisis has now culminated in the farce that is the selection process for the upcoming 2021 Online Chess Olympiad. Joe Mahomole’s board selected 12 players from a blitz (5|0) tournament where top players received 9 hours’ notice via an out-of-use Whatsapp group from 2018 that many top players were not a part of. This was ostensibly the second stage of qualifiers for the Olympic team, but many players (myself included) were unaware of even the first stage of qualifiers. Their proposed team was initially rejected by FIDE, likely based on the fact that the top rated player was not even rated 1700 FIDE in a country with 10 players rated over 2200.
Hendrik du Toit’s team organized an online qualifier with a longer time control, which was given 6 days’ notice. The tournament was held on a long-weekend in South Africa, and clashed with an already-advertised women’s month tournament that two of the country’s 2018 Olympiad team members had already committed to travelling across the country for. The initial invited players list (qualifying for free entry to the event) excluded players such as myself and 2019 SA-Closed runner-up Robyn van Niekerk, and had evidently not been checked before being distributed. Apparently the event doubled as the South African Women’s Open, and I am unsure if players were informed of how (or if) they could qualify through the tournament for the Online Olympiad Team, despite it initially being advertised as the sole selection method. The event was either boycotted or top players could not rearrange their long-weekend plans at a week’s notice, because not a single past-Olympian participated in the event. Du Toit’s team subsequently selected players based on other unknown selection criteria, although the online event appears to have played into the selection of some of the players.
On Tuesday (24 August), it was heard that after a lot of struggles between the two boards and FIDE, it was decided that each board will select 6 members. Joe’s board is allegedly proposing their initial selection, while Hendrik’s board is proposing a stronger team (albeit unclearly selected). I include the alleged players list with FIDE ratings, some of which may not reflect true playing strength since FIDE rated events are few and far between in South Africa, even in non-pandemic times:
Players such as 2019 SA Closed Champion, FM Daniel Barrish (2313), SA’s only GM, GM Kenny Solomon (2349), and past Olympians and SA-Closed winners IM Johannes Mabusela (2235), IM Watu Kobese (2324) and FM Calvin Klaasen (2208) will likely be wondering why they didn’t make the cut, as will junior players such as CM Banele Mhango (2241), WCM Nina Marais (1697) and WCM Sonia Modi (1959). It is also unclear whether playing incentives (to compensate adult players for time taken off work) mentioned by Hendrik’s board will extend to all 12 team members, and the size of such incentives is still unknown approximately a week from the start of the tournament.
While I would support a team that did not consist of the country’s top senior players, but instead promising (and top) junior players, the currently selected team is not that. A 12-player Online Olympiad team that is (purportedly) seriously and fairly selected should not consist of only 3 of the country’s past Olympic players, and unfair strain will be placed on the stronger players selected for the team. As a result, I took the decision to remove myself from the team, even though I really enjoyed my participation in the 2020 Online Olympiad and would have loved to represent my country proudly on an international stage.
South African chess has been hurting for too long. If you’re reading this and you’re part of either of the Chessa boards, know that any good intentions you may once have had, or any positives that you have contributed to South African chess in the past are being completely erased and overshadowed by what this continued struggle has done to South African chess. True leaders serve the people and not their personal interests, and they are prepared to sacrifice their leadership position in order for a united new leadership to step in to repair the broken community.
Chess players, chess parents, and local chess administrators of South Africa – it is time that we make our voices heard and work together to move forward. We need to demand a new and transparent Chess South Africa that can help South African players reach their full potential instead of becoming casualties of Chessa politics.
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If you are part of the South African chess community and you would like to participate in discussions on how to move forward, please reach out to me via chess.com messages or other communication methods.
