Lazarus Shatipamba
Namibia’s very own chess prodigy, International Master (IM) Dante Beukes did superbly in the recent South African Open elite championship section when he ended second, only losing out on first place on tie-breaks.
Back after being away due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the three section, Swiss System classical tournament attracted over 200 players from 09 to 17 July at Fairbairn College in Goodwood, Cape Town.
The event is one of Africa’s highly-prestigious chess tournaments and was this year hosted by Chess Western Province under the auspices of Chess South Africa.
Fresh off rubbing shoulders with Grandmasters (GM) at his school – the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley – the 19-year-old Beukes demonstrated why he is considered one of Africa’s rapidly rising chess players, when he scored nine points after 11 games of which he won seven and drew four.
Beukes’ previous performance in this event was a rather dismal 12th place in the 2019 edition, making his recent performance even more pleasantly astounding. His score of seven wins and four draws will surely go down in history as one of the most convincing performances to date by a Namibian player in a tournament of such an intellectually-taxing nature.
IM Daniel Cawdery won the elite section (9/11). IM Watu Kobese ended third (8.5/11).
Beukes, who won the IM title at the 2019 African Youth Chess Championships held in Windhoek, was the only Namibian in the elite section of the SA Open.
Taking into account his dominantly undefeated display at one of the continent’s most competitive contests, it’s easy to see why Namibia has placed most, if not all, its hopes, in attaining its first-ever and highly-coveted GM title in the hands of the already legendary youngster. With brilliant performances like these, it’s most likely only a matter of time before Beukes is crowned a GM.
Beukes was also crowned the best junior at the SA Open.
He is one of three juniors in the 10-person Namibian national senior team for the 44th World Chess Olympiad that will take place in Chennai, India from 28 July to 10 August.
His sister Jamie-Nicole Beukes, as well as Keisha Catriona van Wyk, are the other juniors.
The team will leave for India on 27 July.