Ten Year Old Steals the Show

From The Republikien Online 29.07.2009 Nicola emerges as chess star NICOLA Tjaronda stole the limelight last Saturday [July 25, 2009] and clearly earned the title of player of the tournament at the Namibian School Sports Union (NSSU) and the Namibia Chess Federation’s (NCF) competition to select a team to participate against South Africa. All regions as well as the qualifiers of the Bank Windhoek Open Chess Championships were invited, however only six of the 13 regions participated with 63 participants. The NCF knows that Namibia has the talent and that it’s just a matter of time and resources before the country can conquer the chess world. Why can the NCF claim this? Well, Nicola Tjaronda, who is only 10 year old and has 1½ years of chess training at TWCA, defeated three high school boys and drew with two. She completely dominated the girls in their encounters. Her victories were against Victor Nangombe, Patricia Teek, Lishen Mentile, Paulus Shituna and Calvin Eichab. She drew against Julian Isaak and Eric Namaseb after she outplayed the young lads. She did not lose a single game and came third with 6/7, due to a lower progressive score. Nicola is the school girls’ champion for 2009. It’s the first time that the NCF saw a young lady who is not afraid to play against the boys. She remained focused throughout the tournament and played attacking chess like a genius. Her encounter against Calvin Eichab displayed Grandmaster technique. She is a definite talent and her coach Josef Nitzborn promises to teach her more good moves to rake in more victories. The overall winner of the National School Team Selection chess tournament was Hange Tjingaete, a learner at Academia and chess student at The Zandell Chess Academy, with a score of 6/7. Hange fought off Julian Isaak in their round 6 encounter which ended in a draw. He however could not convert a slight advantage in round 7 against Melvin Indongo and had to accept a draw. In second position was Julian Isaak with 6/7. Julian, another gem from TWCA, had to admit that Nicola was in top form and he had to fight hard to rescue a lost game. In third position came Nicola with her 6/7. She was clearly the player of the tournament with a phenomenal rating performance of 1745 according to the pairing system Swiss perfect. Ten learners qualified for the encounter against South Africa. They are: Hange Tjingaete, Julian Isaak, Nicola Tjaronda, Melvin Indongo, Eric Namaseb, Calvin Eichab, Uukelo Titus, Dantago Boois, Lishen Mentile and Jack Tjaronda. Five reserves where also chosen, should any one of the ten qualifiers not make it. They are Mitch Nitzborn, James Indongo, Kiiga Angula, Paulinus Shilombuleni and Israel Shikongo. The Namibian team is ready to participate in South Africa and will be coached by national chess coach, Charles Eichab.