Crawford International golden girls shine bright in chess championships
According to Crawford College's golden girls, giving your best shot in all games is critical, and learning from lost games is the most crucial in chess.
Two Crawford International Sandton College golden girls reigned supreme at the recent South African Junior Chess Championships (SAJCC).
Chisomo Boshoma, who is in Grade 10, and Sanjana Rahallil, in Grade 8, represented the province and won the undisputed titles of U16 and U14 girls.
This earned them South African sports colours for chess.
The tough SAJCC competition was held at the Atrium Centre in Sandton City and comprised the very best age-group chess players from all the provinces.
The duels were in the form of matchups called the Swiss System of nine gruelling rounds, where the champion is crowned after amassing more points than everyone else.
Jackie Ngubane, chess coach at the school, said, “Chess is a game of kings and queens. The object is to relentlessly pursue the king and checkmate; however, the conversation is about the queen. She is the most powerful on the chessboard. Chichi and Sanjana personify that succinctly.”
Their round-for-round struggle in the chess matchups against equally ambitious opponents, who came out as the best in their respective provinces was full of drama, nerve-racking thoughts, and stress-inducing feelings concomitant to mental battles only mimicked in warfare.
Chisomo said, “She is proud and excited about herself and looks forward to making more wins in chess.”
She explains that during chess games, sometimes you are faced with the best, and contracting and calculating your move works.
Sanjana agrees and says chess is a game of the mind.
“One wrong move, and it’s all over for you. Putting all your focus on the game helps you evaluate and check for proper moves, so you won’t lose the game.”
She continues to state that the SAJCC taught her a lot, and it feels good to be one of the best in the province for U14 girls.
“Yes, chess is a game of war between the black army and the white army. Players are just commanding generals. However, beyond the chessboard, this struggle is known to develop one’s brain power to face schoolwork with distinction and later tackle the life challenges of the future,” Ngubane concluded.
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