2018 Botswana Junior Open: A Big Success

The long awaited 2018 Botswana Junior Chess Championships, finally took place in the city of Gaborone in Botswana. The tournament was a result of many months of careful preparation, which saw a number of countries make their way to Botswana, in order to battle it out in this tournament. Quite a bit of effort had gone into marketing the tournament and attracting chess players from the Southern region of Africa.

The kids sure enjoyed themselves in Gaborone

It was refreshing to see the effort that went into promoting the event, which included a section for the blind and Partially Impaired. It augurs well for the future of chess, not just in Botswana but the region as a whole, because this opens the door to those whom some “normal humans” would say does not have much to give. More of these same type of events need to be put together more often to get more disabled people into the game of chess.

Ms Keenese Katisenge ensuring the challenged kids understand the board they are using

The tournament was a 7 round Swiss Tournament for the under 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19 Boys and girls. It was held under the auspices of the FIDE, Botswana Chess Federation and local chess Organizer, Limitless Minds, of which the tournament director was the beautifully standout power lady, Keenese Katisenge, who currently heads Limitless Minds Chess Academy.

The Chief Arbiter of the event was Vincent Masole, while the Deputy Chief Arbiter was IA Simbarashe Murimi, who were both supported by Arbiter Mankge Oteng. The time control for the games was a relatively short 30 minutes per player, which was more than sufficient for the players to execute victories and maneuver draws during the tournament.

2018 Botswana International Junior Chess Championships U-7 Girls + U-9 Girls

Final Ranking after 7 Rounds

2018 Botswana International Junior Chess Championships U-7 Boys + U-9 Boys

Final Ranking after 7 Rounds

2018 Botswana International Junior Chess Championships U-11 Girls

Final Ranking after 7 Rounds

2018 Botswana International Junior Chess Championships U-11 Boys

Final Ranking after 7 Rounds

2018 Botswana International Junior Chess Championships U-13 + U-15 Girls

Final Ranking after 7 Rounds

2018 Botswana International Junior Chess Championships U-13 Boys

Final Ranking after 7 Rounds

2018 Botswana International Junior Chess Championships U-15 Boys

Final Ranking after 7 Rounds

The results of the under 17 to 21 are still yet to be fully updated, but once that is done, we will also update same here.

The tournament went very well, but the main challenge was that Wi-Fi was inaccessible at the venue of the event, which limited our ability to report daily on the tournament.
It was a well organized tournament that had so many opportunities.

There were a lot of brilliant play coming out from the young players that participated in this event and I can make bold to say that this was a very important event to bring out the talent in the kids. Of note was the performance in the Under-17 and Under-19 boys category, which had many participants showing strength and making the competition very stiff.

The opening ceremony was super, as well as the overall organization of the event. It is important to note that Keenese ensured that she included the Botswana Chess Federation in the organization of the Tournament, as well as other partners like Eric Takawira, who was mentioned as part of the organizers of the event. The tournament was a success to a large extent as many participants came from Zimbabwe (at least 10 from Willenita Chess Club in Zimbabwe), there were also those players who traveled all the way from Zambia and there were definitely a host of kids who showed up from Botswana.

Willenita Chess Kids Representing Zimbabwe

But over and above, the tournament was a successful one, which also featured the visually impaired kids who played some very interesting games and you can find their final results as shown below:

Final Ranking after 7 Rounds