Johannes Moche is the winner in the A section of the 2022 Blue Frontier Path Chess Tournament, ahead of a strong field of players! Moche himself, will be the first to acknowledge that it was a combination of fortuity and stubborn chess that catapulted him to pole position in the penultimate round. He just doesn’t give up. Lawrence Maubane was the overall winner of Section B.
Chess is not a stranger inside coffee houses, gentlemen’s clubs and restaurants. There’s currently a positive trend in the recent hosting of tournaments that sees chess back to these intimate settings, especially post the near apocalyptic pandemic 2 years we’ve had, that had frozen humanity activity to a standstill in the very recent past.
The blitz event kicked off with a free breakfast in the intimate setting of the Fleisherei Bistro restaurant in Centurion, Pretoria. I’m still not too certain that I am allowed to say bistro restaurant or just bistro. Or is it just restaurant? In any case the setting was classy and intimate. Intrigued patrons were staring at the action through the glass partition. All that was missing was a sign that said “Do Not Feed The Chess Players”.
Attendance
The weekend of the tournament coincided with the SA Open so many of the sharks were absent but not really missed. The planned development sections (B-F) had to be merged but the planned prizes were still awarded to all regardless.
The event was attended by two International Masters. One IM Johannes Mabusela and another, IM Mamombe Kudzanai. Botlhale Lebea, a Candidate Master was also in attendance. Students from Limpopo University came all the way in support not to mention the Midrand Chess Club. One of the interesting entrants was Talane Masipa who used to bring IM Mabusela to tournaments in the then youngster’s formative years.
Chess is not a stranger inside coffee houses, gentlemen’s clubs and restaurants. There’s currently a positive trend in the recent hosting of tournaments that sees chess back to these intimate settings, especially post the near apocalyptic pandemic 2 years we’ve had, that had frozen humanity activity to a standstill in the very recent past.
The games
Tournament first seed and favorite IM Mabusela suffered a shock loss to Andrew Mokomele in as early as the second round and by the third round it looked like Brighton Mthunzi was running away with it as he was in sole lead with seemingly easy opponents ahead.
By that point in the 5 round event, he was cruising ahead of the chasing pack and looked to be on form to take it.
Enter Johannes Moche, and a howler of a blunder in the 4th round.
With white (Brighton) to play, he incomprehensively botched up a superior position with the questionable f4? and then promptly resigned. Moche capitalized on this win by beating Botlhale Lebea in the last round to win the event unbeaten!
A huge congratulations to all the winners and big thanks to Blue Frontier and IA Marius Ferreira for a well run event.
Blue Frontier Path has now issued discounted coupons to the participants to redeem in the platform. The coupons carry 20% discount for any content on the platform. The offer is valid till the 16th of August.
One of their more interesting offerings is the chess gamification program. It’s a series of courses provided by the legendary IM Watu Kobese, where for every 100 course participants there’s a cash reward for the top 8 best students who do well in the course quiz and an opportunity to learn more from the legend himself by playing a game against him.
Gamification Prizes carry monetary value of TOTAL CASH PRIZES WORTH R5 445,00
About Blue Frontier Path
Demand-driven, affordable, customised hybrid online Academy is meant to ensure equality of opportunity in education, where everyone has equal access to good quality education, irrespective of their economic status.
Our courses are delivered by leading South Africa based tutors, focusing on holistic academic improvement in an enjoyable manner; school children, adults and professionals.
