DURBAN High School has a remarkable team of strategists in its midst. The school’s chess team recently took part in the Grey College Invitation Chess Tournament in Bloemfontein. The event, is a rated Swiss team tournament consisting of five rounds which are held over two sections.
Each round is two hours in duration and each player gets one hour to conquer his opponent’s king.
Three of the DHS teams played in the B division and one in the A division.
A total of 264 chess players from 23 schools around the country participated and the four boys in the DHS A team were ranked in the Top 64 chess players in the tournament, with Naseem Essa ranked second, Sachen Pather fifth, Thirushan Pather 30th and Viseshan Govender ranked 42nd.
The end of the tournament saw the DHS A team win the tournament, placing first and receiving gold medals. In addition, Naseem won the Board One prize and Jonathan Slomczynski (B division) won the Board Three prize for winning all their games.
The winning team received gold medals and prize money of R2 200 for school chess.
