African Juniors 2008_2009 and Chess games

African Junior Chess Championhips 2008_2009… Please scroll down a little bit..I do apologise for this mixed post! I didn’t know I was going to have time to blog the African Juniors and didn’t want to start a new entry…

Melissa Greeff and Kareim Wageih - Winners of the African Junior CC 2008_9

 Finally I got my picture! Image from the Official site of Chessa. Melissa Greeff – from South Africa and Kareim Wageih – from Egypt, are the winners of the 2008_9 African Junior Chess Championship that took place in South Africa. For a larger view you may want to click on the image. See more images at the bottom of this post and 5 pages of lovely photos on the official site (link in this post).

I’m not in a mood to explain anything about my own games in this post. Ask me why…and I’ll tell you it’s because of politiciants ranted about what was written in a book they’ve read, believed all the rubbish and think they know everything after what some stupid guy wrote! (ok, that was a couple of  years ago, but still…the idea! who says what was was written in that book was the truth anyway! You should go and visit a place to see what’s going on before you make any accusations or act upon what was written in a book! Silly – if you ask me!) Well, you shouldn’t ask me more on this, unless you want to see me ranting tomorrow whole day!  And those same “people” won’t move a finger about what’s going on in Zimbabwe. Could somebody please write them a book about Zimbabwe!!! People are dying of hunger, calling for help…much worse is going on than what was written by “someone”, but do they care…no! They think they care..does anyone ever really care what’s going on in another country…who cares about Mugabe killing his own people? Is he God-sent..that they don’t do anything?

Ek wip sommer my agterend vir hierdie Engelse Barones wat dink dat as jy ‘n boek lees, dat alles in ‘n boek waar is…sy was seker lekker blond gewees. Dis alles in die hansard, skree as jy die link wil hê, maar maak gereed om jou te vererg.

 Ok, I’ll shut-up and keep my thoughts to chess…that’s much better – for my soul at least. I’ve decided to upload only a few images about games I’ve played recently..some good games, some silly stupid games.  Chess Cube is a quite newish chess site which is worth to check out. You can follow this link or the link on my blog’s side bar – with the white knight’s-head. Links in the post will open in a new window.

 The Hastings Chess tournament is also now on and on THIS LINK you will find games from the 1920’s till 2004 played at Hastings tournaments. Games can also be downloaded. I also have a few chess graphics of games played by earlier Chess Grandmasters, which I dug out on Chess World. Sometimes if I play through these games, I think..oh, that’s easy, or that looks like such an easy game, or…hmm..I think I can play a game like that too! but…gmf..when it comes to the real game…it’s not always so easy peasy, but I guess I need to follow the “rules” more, as I’m  following my “own” rules. I’m playing not too much now, but prefer to go on Chess Cube for a quick real time game, there’s always someone to play with. I do like Chess Cube’s interface, it’s cool.  Chess Cube is a South African site, also now a site which the English Chess use for their chess club. At the bottom of this post you will find a link to the English Chess-forum-site and the image with the link shows you the page you get when you go to “their” club…but once you’ve clicked on “log in”..it takes you straight away to the main page of Chess Cube. On Chess Cube you can also join your country’s chat room, if you like. The African Junior Chess Championship is now taking place in South Africa! You will find a link to the official site with more information in this post too.

Chess.com-game..I played white. I guess it was  a good checkmate in this game.

 

Chess.com-game..I played white in this game, my American opponent wasn’t “impressed” with my play…by that I think you know what I mean..

Sneumann vs Steinitz

Maroczy vs Pillsbury 

Steinitz vs Lasker

Chess.com-game..this game wasn’t a  good game for me…although it might look like it was.

Chess Cube-game..I like the position here..I played white in this game too..how come are all these games I’m blogging games where I played white!…just wondering..

Flags of the African countries taking part in the championships

African Junior Chess Championship: 28th December 2008 – 6th January 2009.
Please click here for the African Juniors link for more information.

The Amanzintaba Resort at Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa, where the African Junior Chess Championships are taking place. Amanzintaba means: “Water from the mountain”, this link will take you to the resort’s homepage. Bronkhorstspruit is near Pretoria, about 30 mins’ drive on the N4 Highway. Thaba in Northern Sotho means “mountain”…I’m not sure if they’ve changed the spelling of “thaba” in this resort’s name..this is my knowledge of Northern Sotho.

African Junior Chess Championship: Schedule

 

African Junior Chess Championships 2008_9: Girls top 5 after round 7

African Junior Chess Championships 2008_9: Open section after round 7

South African girls taking the lead in the African Juniors- girls section

African Junior Chess Championship: Open section after round 8

 African Junior Chess Championships: Round 9 – The final round…
  

Results: Round 9 - South African girls taking the first 5 places, well done!

Results: Open section: Round 9, the final round. Egypt taking the lead again.

For a larger view, please click on the images

For more images about the African Juniors…please follow my link to the official site in this post. There are 5 pages of lovely pics to see, also pics about their free day.

Chess Cube interface…ahh…you can see I played black here!
Please click here for the English Chess Forum link. The link will open in a new window. English chess -url…http://ecfclub.chesscube.com/

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South African Junior players: Turkey

Daleen, Pratish and Corno practicing chess on the rooftop of the hotel.

I do hope you enjoy this report from Corno and the few pictures…all from the Official site : Chessa. I do hope to update this post soon with more info on the South Africans taking part in the World Junior Chess Championships in Turkey, as well as the World Junior Girls Chess Championships the same time. See my post about the World Junior Chess Championships for more results on the two Saffas with other results too.

Results : Round 8

 29  ANTON Sarah 1681 AUS 2½ 0 – 1 2 WFM WIID Daleen 1931 RSA
45  RAMSURRUP Pratish 1809 RSA 2½ 0 – 1 2½  OLIVER Gareth 2196 AUS

Pairings and results: Round 9 : 11th Aug 15:00

49 FM GROVER Sahaj 2306 IND 2½  2½  RAMSURRUP Pratish 1809 RSA-1-0

27 WFM WIID Daleen 1931 RSA 3  3  BOYARCHENKO Marie 1895 LUX –1-0

Pratish in round 9 Image: Official site

Pairings and results: round 10 August 12:15:00

26 WFM WIID Daleen 1931 RSA 4  vs 3½ WFM BERKE Ana 2100 CRO-1-0
52  RAMSURRUP Pratish 1809 RSA 2½ vs  2½  OZDOVER Mustafa Berkay 1768 TUR-0-1

Pairings and results: round 11 – 13th Aug 15:00

17 WIM DAULYTE Deimante 2288LTU 5 vs 5 WFM WIID Daleen 1931RSA-0-1
48  AYDOGDU Ataman 2050TUR 3½ vs 3½  RAMSURRUP Pratish 1809RSA-1-0
25  HEGARTY Sarah 1966ENG 4½ vs 4  IKONOMOPOULOU Maria 2074GRE-1-0

Pratish in round 11

Pairings and results – round 12: 14th Aug 15:00

18 WIM IVAKHINOVA Inna 2248 RUS 5½vs5½  HEGARTY Sarah 1966 ENG-1-0
22 WFM WIID Daleen 1931 RSA 5vs5 WFM LEKS Hanna 2198 POL-1-0
50  RAMSURRUP Pratish 1809 RSA 3½vs4  ULUDOGAN Lutfullah 0 TUR-1-0

Pairings and results: Round 13: 15th Aug 10:00..the final round

17 WIM DAULETOVA Gulmira 2267 KAZ 6vs6 WFM WIID Daleen 1931 RSA 1 – 0
23  HEGARTY Sarah 1966 ENG 5½vs5½ WFM DAVLETBAYEVA Madina 2155 KAZ 1 – 0
46  PLENCA Julijan 2295 CRO 4½vs4½  RAMSURRUP Pratish 1809 RSA 1 – 0

We left South Africa proudly on the 31st July 2008 filled with enthusiasm. The flight was lovely and our night at Istanbul was just as good. We did a lot of sight-seeing in Istanbul as we knew we were in for a hard time in Gaziantep as this tournament is regarded as the hardest junior chess championship in the world. We arrived in Gaziantep, which has a population of 1, 25 million and average temperature of 40 ° in summer. From the airport we left for our hotel, the Ugur Plaza Hotel, which is a very nice 5 star hotel. The tournament is very strong as there are more than 10 Grandmasters and over 20 International masters playing. Turkey is growing rapidly in chess and they have over 2 million youngsters taking chess courses in schools. Here are some pictures of Turkey.

Pratish enjoying an ice-cream on Istanbul square.

The South African team with Hou Yifan.

Round 1:

South Africa had a difficult start with Daleen playing Padmini Rout from India with a rating of 2257 and Pratish playing Ashwin Jayaram from India with a rating of 2436. Daleen was on the backfoot with the black pieces. Pratish played a very nice game with some interesting ideas and held his opponent for a long time but got outplayed in the endgame. Here follows his game:

(1) Ramsurrup,Pratish (1809) – Ashwin,Jayaram (2436) [B90]
World Juniors (1.1), 03.08.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qf3 g6 7.h3 Bg7 8.Be3 Bd7 9.g4 Nc6 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.Kb1 Rc8 12.Qg3 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 e5 14.Ba7 Qc7 15.Qe3 b5 16.Qb6 b4 17.g5 Ne8 18.Qxc7 Rxc7 19.Bb6 bxc3 20.Bxc7 Nxc7 21.Rxd6 Be6 22.Rc6 Nb5 23.Bxb5 axb5 24.Rxc3 Rd8 25.Rd3 Rxd3 26.cxd3 Bf8 27.h4 Bc5 28.Rh2 h5 29.Kc2 Kf8 30.b3 b4 31.Kd2 Bg4 32.Rg2 f6 33.gxf6 Kf7 34.Ke1 Kxf6 35.f3 Bxf3 36.Rc2 Bd4 37.Rc6+ Kg7 38.Ra6 Bg2 39.Rc6 Kf7 40.Rc7+ Kf6 41.Rc6+ Kg7 42.Rc7+ Kh6 43.Rc6 Bh3 44.Ke2 Bd7 45.Rc7 Bg4+ 46.Kf1 Bh3+ 47.Ke2 g5 48.Rc6+ Kg7 49.hxg5 h4 50.Rh6 Bg4+ 51.Kf1 h3 52.Rh4 Bc8 53.Rh6 Bd7 54.Ra6 h2 55.Kg2 Bg1 56.d4 Bh3+ 0-1

Round 2:

South Africa got their first point through Daleen Wiid. She convincingly won her game against Milian Salatic.
Pratish Ramsurrup got outplayed in the opening and lost against Vitaly Neimer of Israel with a rating of 2316.
The top seed Rauf Mamadov also lost in round 2 and was a big upset for the tournament. He is a Grandmaster from Azerbaijan with a rating of 2627. Although with a 13 round tournament there is still lots to play for.

Round 3:

Unfortunately both the South Africans lost and had problems with their openings. On this top level you cannot make one mistake and a lot of opening knowledge is required.
One of the tournament favorites’ Hou Yifan the current women’s World Champion is playing in the open section. She is seed number 16 with a rating of 2554 a Women Grandmaster from China. It was an honor to meet her.

 

Round 4:
Pratish got his first win to open his account we hope he will get much more wins and gain much more experience from this tournament. Daleen unfortunately lost to an experiences player from Norway. She played an interesting game and learnt a lot from it especially how to play this specific opening with the different ideas and structures. In this round the top seed Rauf Mamedov again lost. He is only on 2 out of 4 so as we can see this is a very strong tournament. So the South Africans must just be strong and gain a lot of experience from this tournament. Hou Yifan played a very nice game and she has a score of 3,5 out of 4 in the open section. I will publish her game tomorrow.

Coaches Report
Turkey 2008
Corno Klaver

Other Chess news: Congratulations to our 2 top players and coaches Daniel Cawdery and Monique Sischy who will represent South Africa at the Olympiad in Dresden, Germany in November. We are proud of you.

Update from Corno on the South African players in Turkey!

Round 5:
Here is Hou Yifan’s game from yesterday. A very attacking, aggressive game to claim the win.
(4) Hou,Yifan (2557) – Arun,Prasad (2492) [B53]
World Juniors Gaziantep Turkey
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Bxc6 Bxc6 7.Nc3 h6 8.Be3 e5 9.Qc4 Nf6 10.0-0-0 Qc8 11.Qd3 a6 12.Nh4 b5 13.f4 b4 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.Nd5 Bb5 16.Qd2 Qc6 17.Nf3 Nd7 18.Nxb4 Qc4 19.Nd5 Qxa2 20.Nc7+ Kd8 21.Qc3 Qa1+ 22.Kd2 Qa4 23.Nd5 Rc8 24.Bb6+ Nxb6 25.Nxb6 1-0
Daleen wasn’t feeling well today and lost due to lack of concentration. Many of the players are getting ill and this tournament isn’t just a test of playing strength but also of endurance and stamina.
Pratish played a good game against a 2218 but lost by choosing the wrong attacking plan. I thought he missed a few opportunities to win the game.
(5) Vavric,Pavel–2218 –..Rampsurrup,Pratish –1809– [B50]
World Juniors Gaziantep Turkey
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 Nc6 5.d3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.0-0 e6 8.Nbd2 Be7 9.Nc4 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.g4 Bg6 12.Nfe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 0-0 14.c4 Nb4 15.Qb3 Bd6 16.Nxg6 fxg6 17.Be3 Rf7 18.d4 cxd4 19.Bxd4 Nc6 20.Be3 Qh4 21.c5 Bc7 22.Kg2 Raf8 23.Rad1 Kh8 24.Rd2 Ne5 25.f4 Nc6 26.Qxb7 Na5 27.Qe4 g5 28.Rf3 gxf4 29.Bf2 Qf6 30.b4 Nc6 31.Qxc6 e5 32.Qxf6 gxf6 33.Bd3 Rd7 34.Re2 Rfd8 35.Bf5 Rg7 36.Rd3 Rb8 37.a3 a5 38.Be1 h5 39.Kf3 hxg4+ 40.hxg4 axb4 41.axb4 Kg8 42.Red2 1-0

Round 6:
Pratish scored his second win of the tournament by outplaying his Turkish opponent. Daleen’s condition worsened and she withdrew from this game to rest and hopefully get better. Here is a rating of the tournament so far:
Rated things: Rating out of 5 with 5 the best:
Flight 4
Hotel 5
Food 3,5
Playing venue 2
Player interaction 4
Round 7:
Daleen came back with a vengeance and played a nice combination to go two pawns up in the endgame. Well done Daleen.
(6) Wiid,Daleen – Dai,Irmak [C24]
World Juniors Gaziantep Turkey
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 d5 4.exd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.0-0 Bc5 7.Re1 f6 8.h3 Nde7 9.Nc3 Bf5 10.a3 Qd7 11.Ne4 Bb6 12.Ng3 0-0-0 13.b4 a6 14.Rb1 Na7 15.a4 c6 16.Qe2 Be6 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.Qxe3 Kb8 19.Nxe5 Qc7 20.Bxe6 Qxe5 21.Qxe5+ fxe5 22.Rxe5 1-0
Pratish also played a very good game. The game preparation went perfect and he gained a useful advantage. He was a pawn up and missed lots of winning chances, but he couldn’t convert it to a win in the endgame and drew the game.
(7) Sousa,Ricardo (2133) – Rampsurrup,Pratish (1809) [A08]
World Juniors Gaziantep Turkey
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 f6 6.Nbd2 Be6 7.e4 Nge7 8.c3 Qd7 9.a3 d4 10.c4 g5 11.Rb1 Ng6 12.Qa4 a5 13.Rd1 h5 14.Nf1 h4 15.Rd2 hxg3 16.fxg3 Bh3 17.b4 cxb4 18.Rdb2 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Ra6 20.Bd2 Bd6 21.axb4 Nxb4 22.Qxd7+ Kxd7 23.Ne1 b6 24.Kf3 Ne7 25.Kg4 Raa8 26.Bxb4 Bxb4 27.Nc2 Bc5 28.h3 Nc6 29.Nd2 Nb4 30.Nxb4 axb4 31.Nb3 Ke6 32.Rf1 Ra7 33.Rff2 Rha8 34.Rh2 Bd6 35.Rhf2 Ra3 36.Rfc2 Rc8 37.Rb1 Rc7 38.Rbb2 Ra8 39.Rb1 Bc5 40.Rbb2 Bd6 41.Rb1 Be7 42.Rf1 Rca7 43.Rff2 Ra3 44.Rb2 Rc8 45.Rfc2 Rc7 46.Rb1 1/2-1/2
Tomorrow is a rest day and we going to do some sight seeing. We are going to visit an old castle and some museums.
Round 8 to follow and it’s a tri-nations match up today. Both the South Africans are playing Aussies. Make us proud bokke!!!

Coaches Report
Turkey 2008
Corno Klaver

Round 8:
Daleen Wiid won comfortably after the opening with a kingside attack. Pratish Rampsurrup had a drawn endgame but missed the draw in time trouble in the end.     South Africa 1 – Australia 1. Here is a picture of the mosaïek we saw in the museum on the rest day.

Round 9:
Pratish had a tough opponent in round 9. He played Fide Master Sahaj Grover from India with a rating 2306. It was a very complicated Najdorf position where Pratish had a queen for 3 pieces. I think he misplayed the position and had a chance to have a better position as black. Here is the position:

Pratish played, 18. …Rac8 which I think is to slow. He should either play 18. … f6 immediately or even better 18. … b4 follow by 19. Ne4 f6! This will give him an advantage. It is still complicated to play but the dangerous e7 pawn will fall and Pratish can start to organize his pieces.
Daleen swapped of queens early and outplayed her opponent in the endgame.

Round 10:
Daleen played a spectacular game to win her 4th game in a row. She is on fire. Here was the position she reached and made a nice sacrifice and finished her opponent off.

Daleen played 20. Nxh7! exd4 21.Bg5 Be7 22.Rfe1!

Round 11:
Daleen now faces her toughest challenge of the tournament playing WIM Deimante Daulyte from Lithuania with a rating of 2288. Good luck Daleen, mate it 5 in a row!

Coaches Report
Turkey 2008
Corno Klaver

 

Free day …chess junior players on their trip in Turkey…I can see Corno and Pratish…but wonder where is Daleen…Corno?

Follow this link for more about the World Junior CC in Turkey

https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/world-junior-chess-championships-2008/

Some of the participants of the SA Juniors Closed in March 2008

Some of the SA junior players…

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World Junior Chess Championships 2008

See my new post on this link…with the results of round 8  onwards…please click here:  https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/final-results-rounds-8-13-world-juniors-in-turkey/

 On this link you can see all the standings and results of the first 10 boards in each round from round 8-13 and the final results.

 

 

 You will also find the Official site on this new link! I don’t update this post with results for rounds 8-finals! All new results on the link here!…please follow the new link for new results!

Please click HERE for the Official site. See my new post on this link…with the results of round 8  onwards… please click here:

https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/final-results-rounds-8-13-world-juniors-in-turkey/

Pairings for round 8 …tomorrow…10th Aug at 15:00

 

World Juniors: Standings after round 7…first 10 places

 

World Junior Girls: Standings after round 7…first 10 places

Click on the images for a larger view. I will update this page with info on a daily basis and more on England and South African players…from round 8 on, I will also blog the top players from both sections…in a new post.  All images of players are from the Official site. The top half of this post is about the Girl’s section and after the banner in the middle, you will find info on the World Junior’s section…

World Junior Chess Championship (Girls)

Pairings and results Girls Juniors- round 7: 8th Aug 15:00

19  HEGARTY Sarah 1966 ENG vs WGM CORKE Anya 2255 HKG–0-1
33 WFM WIID Daleen 1931 RSA vs DAI Irmak 0 TUR–1-0

Pairings and results round 6: 7th Aug 15:00

21 WFM GASIK Anna 2211 POL vs  HEGARTY Sarah 1966 ENG–1/2
30 WFM WIID Daleen 1931 RSA vs  BOYARCHENKO Marie 1895 LUX– +

World Junior Girls…round 6 board 1: Muzychuk vs Abrahamyan move 26

World Junior Girls, round 6 board 2: Harika vs Dauletova move 23

World Junior Girls round 5

more girls having fun! 
 

Pairings and results: World Junior Girls…round 5: 6th Aug at 15:00

19  HEGARTY Sarah 1966 ENG vs WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU–1/2
30  ANTONOVA Nadezhda 1883 TJK vs WFM WIID Daleen 1931 RSA –1-0

World Junior Girls…round 5 board 1 move 24

World Junior Girls round 4 board 1 move 12
1 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR vs IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND

World Junior Girls round 4 board 2 move 5
2 WIM MAJDAN Joanna 2323 POL vs WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA

Pairings and results rounds 1-4: Girls Junior….click on the image for a larger view.

On THIS LINK you can view more results of round 2 of the Girls Junior section.
On this link you can see more pairings of the Junior Girls section.
Please click HERE to see more results on round 1 of the Junior Girls of round 1.

Image: Official site

World Junior Chess Championships 2008

Image: World Junior Chess Championships: Pairings and results: rounds 1-4
Please click on the image for a larger view.
Please click HERE to see more results of round 1.
Please click HERE to view more results of round 2 of the Junior Section.

World Juniors…round 4, board 6…David Howell…move 8

David Howell, round 4 move 59

Board 6…England’s player…David Howell vs Hrant Melkumyan
Pairings and results: World Junior Chess….round 5 : 6th Aug at 15:00

1 GM HOWELL David 2561 ENG vs GM SAFARLI Eltaj 2527 AZE–1-0
35  CONSTANTINOU Peter 2225 ENG vs  ENCHEV Ivajlo 2367 BUL–1/2
46  VAVRIC Pavel 2218 MDA vs RAMSURRUP Pratish 1809 RSA–1-0

World Juniors…round 5…board 1…David Howell move 29

World Juniors…round 5…board 2

World Juniors round 5 board 1

Pairings and results: World Juniors: round 6: 7th Aug 15:00

2 WGM HOU Yifan 2557 CHN vs GM HOWELL David 2561 ENG– 1/2
34 IM KARTHIKEYAN Pandian 2402 IND vs  CONSTANTINOU Peter 2225 ENG–1/2
51  RAMSURRUP Pratish 1809 RSA vs  OZTOSUN Gorkem 0 TUR– 1-0

World Junior Chess board 2 round 6: David Howell, move 23

World Junior Chess board 1 round 6: Le Quang Liem vs Li Chao..move 22

Pairings and results: World Juniors round 7: 8th Aug 15:00

1 IM BRAUN Arik 2533 GER vs GM LI Chao B 2590 CHN–1-0
2 GM HOWELL David 2561 ENG vs GM RAMIREZ Alejandro 2531 CRC–1-0
31  CONSTANTINOU Peter 2225 ENG vs  CASPI Israel 2412 ISR–1-0
48  SOUSA Ricardo 2133 POR vs  RAMSURRUP Pratish 1809 RSA–1/2

Junior Chess round 7 boards 1 and 2…final position…click on the image…

Schedule of the Championships


Schedule

The championships will be held in Gaziantep from 2 August 2008 (arrival day)  to 16 August 2008 (departure day). The venue is Şehit Kamil Municipality Sport Hall in the centre of Gaziantep.

Image: Wikipedia…Province of Gaziantep in Turkey

 

South African players that will take part in the World Junior Chess Championships

The South African team that played at St Lo, France early in July

Image: SAJCA.com

Image of the old town…farm3.static.flickr.com

Image: farm1.static.flickr…Gaziantep museum

Our wish came true when we found these four houses, each older than 100 years, in the heart of the old city. They were built out of the soft stone, quarried in and around Antep and known for their capacity to keep the habitats cool in the heat of the summer and warm and easy to heat in the winter. With their 4 meter high walls surrounding the courtyards, the old houses in Antep were designed to reflect the cultural and religious background, which put high priority on privacy. Once in the courtyard, you are cut-off from the sound of the busy city right outside.

Gaziantep, the biggest city in the Southeast of Turkey and the sixth biggest in Turkey, is one of the first settlements in Anatolia.
Ruins which belong to the Stone Age, Chalcolithic and Copper ages; Hittite, Mitani, Assyrian, Roman and Byzantine, Islam and Turkish – Islamic Period can be traced everywhere in the area
The region was under the Hittite control in the 1700s BC. The ancient city of Duluk, which is north of the city today, was an important religious center of the Hittites. During the period of Caliph Omar, as a result of the religious wars to spread the Islam out of the Arab Peninsula, the Muslim troops defeated the Byzantine army at the War of Yermuk in 636 under the command of lyaz Bin Ganern. The area, including Gaziantep region became Muslim soil, its people converted to Islam and Omeriye Mosque was built in this period as a symbol of the conquest.
After the Manzikert victory in 1071, Suleiman Shah conquered Antep and its surroundings in 1084 and annexed the area to the Seljuk Empire. On August 20,1516 Yavuz Sultan Selim Khan came to Antep and stayed here for three days. After the Mercidabik victory against Memaluks in 1516 the city came under the reign of the Ottoman Empire.
Gaziantep and the surrounding area, which was occupied by the French and English troops after the World War I, received recognition everywhere in the world for its defense and unique heroism which amazed the world. TheTurkish Grand National Assembly granted Antep the “GAZi” (war hero) title on February 8, 1921 because of this achievement.

Gaziantep, which was called Ayintap, Antep, Kala-i Fusus, Hantap,Antep and finally Gaziantep got its name from the depth of its history.

Source: Follow this link and you can  click on the “Gallery” link to see more fantastic images… enjoy! http://www.anadoluevleri.com/default_eng.php

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African Junior Chess Championships Final Results

afjun07finalgirls.doc     afjun07finalboys.doc

 

 

Well done to all the South African players particularly Daleen Wiid for winning the Girls section, Carmen de Jager for 2nd place and Calvin Klaasen for his second place in the boys section.  The boys section has been won by Kareim Wageih (Egypt).

Ryan van Resnburg was 3rd in the boys section, Lthuekela Zitha 5th, Melissa Greeff 6th (boys) and Angelique Hattingh was 7th in the girls section. You can click on the two doc-links to download the final results or you can click HERE ….. for the official site of the SA Junior Chess Association. Links will open in a new window.

Egyptian, South African win Africa junior chess
BY Mphatso Malidadi
12:05:21 – 08 January 2008

Egyptian top seed Kareim Wagein and South African Wiid Darleen on Sunday won this year’s Africa junior chess champions in boys and girls respectively during the week-long event that was staged at the elite Kamuzu Academy.
Wagein, who accumulated 7.5 points, and Darleen were rewarded with international master title status
South African Calvin Klaasen finished as Wagein’s runner-up with 6.5 points while his compatriot Ryan Van Rensburg came third with 5.5 points.
In the girls category, Carmen De Jarger emerged second while Rocha Valquiria was third.
However, the three Malawian flag carriers failed to make it into the top three positions in the open category which saw South African girl Melisa Greef taking part in the boys group.
Despite failing to make it into top three, the country’s ambassadors showed they had made strides in the competition as they occupied better positions unlike in the previous competitions where they had ended at the bottom.
Chuma Mwale finished eighth with five points, national junior champion Chiletso Chipanga came 11th, national champion Joseph Mwale came 14th in the event that had 23 participants.
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