Chess in the Mediterranean

On 12 April 1992, a blind South African chess team,
dressed in their green and gold, left for Majorca to
participate for the first time in the braille chess olympiad!
The team consisted of Charl Kotze from Pretoria, who played on
board 1, Christo de Klerk from Alberton - Board 2, Renaldo
Guelpa from Glencoe - board 3, and Jabulani Sefunda from
Soweto - board 4. The team manager was Sandy Licene, whose
initiative brought everything about, and the coach was Mike
O'Sullivan, a South African chess master. 

The tournament took place in Ca'n Picafort, a small town on
the island of Majorca, Spain. It was played over eleven rounds
an South Africa was one of the 33 countries taking part, the
only African team. The hotel where everybody stayed and where
the games were played, was magnificent and the cuisine was
outstanding, although Jabulani said he rather missed his maize
porridge.

At the official opening, the South Africans were welcomed
enthusiastically and, during the tournament, they made many
good friends and enjoyed socializing with the other teams. But
more about the social activities later; after all, the idea
was to go and play chess.

The standard of play at the tournament was incredibly high:
Some of the top players have Elo ratings higher than the
strongest sighted South African players! The South Africans
managed to beat Argentina and Mexico and they drew against
Greece and won a few more games. Although they came 31st out
of 33, they learnt much and gained valuable experience.

The team had to adapt rather quickly to the method of play,
which was completely new to them. Each player plays on his own
board (except, of course, some of those Russians, who don't
even use a board). When a player made his move, he had to
announce the move in German to his opponent, press the button
on the chess clock, and notate the move, either in writing or
on tape. The German notation especially took some getting
used to, E.G. Springer for knight an Bauer for pawn; and the
letters "a to h" indicating the files on the chess board were
represented by the names Anna, Bella, Caesar, David, Eva,
Felix, Gustav and Hector. Thus, the move "knight to f3" would
be announced as "Springer Felix drei"! As you can imagine, the
noise level was quite high, with all the Springers and Davids,
players recording their moves on tape, and the occasional
"doink" as someone accidentally knocked over his drink . . .

It was in South Africa's first game,  the game against the
host country, Spain, that the following incident occurred. It
was Christo's move on board 2. He was analysing the situation
and had to decide whether to capture his opponent's piece with
his right-hand knight or the knight on the left. He had just
about made up his mind to do so with the right-hand knight,
when the coach Mike whispered, "Your left-hand side." Christo
was taken aback and rather shocked that his coach prompted
him. He could also not understand why it would be better to
use the left-hand knight. Just when he had decided to ignore
the prompt, Mike tapped him on the left shoulder. Christo
thought, "He is really insistent and must be able to see
something that totally escaped me." He then used the left-hand
knight and came terribly short. What had really happened was
that Mike had tried to draw Christo's attention to the fact
that he had put a cool drink to Christo's left-hand side . . .
   
As intimated earlier, apart from playing chess and having
coaching sessions, the team still had enough time for
socializing and relaxation. They had social evenings, with,
among others, the Russians and the Cubans, and especially
enjoyed the company of the Chileans and Italians. The team
also went horse riding, the very first time for some of them,
but they all returned, somewhat stiff but unscathed. They
enjoyed pedal boating on the Mediterranean, and there were
most entertaining and interesting excursions to the Cave of
Drac and the pearl factory             
                   
The atmosphere was indescribable. In the evenings after
dinner, many of the teams would remain in the dining-room,
each team at their separate table, and the different countries
would start singing. Often the Chileans would start with
"Chi-Chi-Chi  le-le-le-! Viva Chile!" One evening Jabulami
showed that he was not only a good chess player, but also a
talented singer: He stunned everyone with his beautiful
rendition of Nkosi Sikelel' in Afrika. The next evening the
italians chanted "Jabulani! Jabulani!" and asked him to sing
the song again and taped him without him knowing it. The
evening thereafter they sang the song in perfect Zulu; they
had learnt it from the tape during the day! The South Africans
took the initiative and arranged a sing-song evening, with
Mike as Mc. All the countries met in the hotel lounge after
dinner and chatted and sang until the early hours of the
morning. Fortunately the next day was free - no chess.

At the prize-giving, to the team's total amazement, they were
awarded the "fair play" trophy for sportsmanship on and off
the board! Something else, which was perhaps even more
exciting than the trophy, was the fact that South Africa was
asked to host the next braille chess olympiad in 1996. The
financial implications of hosting an event of this nature is
that much work has to be done. So, all potential sponsors and
chess players, please stand up and be counted.

The S.A. Blind Chess Association was requested by the
International Braille Chess Association actively to promote
and develop chess in South Africa and in other African
countries.  The S.A.B.C.A. undertook to do so and have already
started various projects with this purpose. Special mention
must be made of a donation of 5.000 Rand for chess development
in South Africa by a British couple the team met in Majorca!
The money is much needed and greatly appreciated.

The team agree, They have had an experience that is never to
be forgotten.  On and off the chess board, they had a
wonderful time.          

                       Christo De Klerk