A 17-year-old chess player will be attending the African Schools Individual Chess Tournament in Waterberg, Limpopo from 5 to 13 December.
Keith Khumalo who lives in Johannesburg and attends Phoenix College is currently in Grade 11.
He hopes to be the next SA Grand Master champion in chess and is elated at the opportunity to play in this year’s tournament. Keith started playing chess in 2011 and has been trying to raise awareness for sponsorship of his art.
“I hope I will be able to go far with my love for chess. That will be really awesome!”
CEO of Sed Partners Rashied Essop handed over sponsorship for Keith’s tournament at their Auckland Park offices on 4 December to support his journey.
Essop said, “Our Sed Partners team have decided to go further in aiding Keith by trying to secure more sponsorships from various entities and institutions for his upcoming tournament at the 2018 African Schools Individual Chess Championships.”
Keith’s current chess rating is 2083 but he hopes to become the next Grand Master champion.
He will need a lot of dedication but sponsorships are also important in aiding him to realise his dream. He said one of his highlights was being invited to go play at an international event, “But unfortunately without sponsorship, I couldn’t make it.”
Sed, the company sponsoring Keith, is an incident management company and is responsible for the incubation and development of black artisans within the short-term insurance supply chain and the development of new entrants in the industry. They will be responsible in sponsoring Keith’s transportation to the tournament.
Essop said the company hoped to create awareness about the National Chess Championships which will take part in every city and will be launched in March next year.
Keith said his dream is to go to the 2020 Common Wealth games if he got the right sponsorships and of course hard work on his part.
