Julian Isaak the 2010 Junior Champion of Namibia won the Kehat Beukes Memorial

TWCA students are trendsetters. Julian Isaack made it number 5 when he blew away Candidate Master Eichab after an apparent blunder by the latter. Read more about this youngsters sterling performance...

Immanuel Gariseb is the TWCA Champion for 2011

He did it. Read more about the 2011 TWCA Chess Champion later...

TWCA B TEAM CROWNED SCHOOL TEAM CHAMPIONS 2011

Saturday, 1 October 2011, The Weekend Chess Academy made history when the B Team won the 7^th  Namibia National School Team Chess Championships 2011 with 11.5/20. The Champions are, Matjiua Kajovi, Ethan Pretorius, Tjitjiri Tjaronda and Abhinav Lahiri. The team had to win their last match against Kolin Foundation B Team to capture the title and they surely did. In Second place came The Weekend Chess Academy A team with 9.5/20. The TWCA A team (Immanuel, Christo, William and Julian) also had to win their final match in the last round to win the silver Medals. In third place we had Kolin Foundation A team also with 9.5/20. 

Kolin Foundation lost their match against the TWCA A team and was placed 3^rd because of the first tie-break being direct encounter. 

In the Primary section the Zandell Chess Academy Primary A Team took the gold with 23.5/28. They are; Etu Nangula, Mutago Hochobeb, Mubasen Hochobeb and Eu-Word Brendell. It was a horse race between ZCA and TWCA Primary A team (Nicola, Camy, Vetueza and Krishanu the 2010 Primary School Team Champions) who were leading the event from round one but conceded one point to many in the last round and ended with a 23/28 score in second place.

Van Rhyn Primary A team came in third place with 12/28. They had the same points then the ZCA B team but won on they match in round 2 and was placed 3^rd because of the direct-encounter tie-break. The chess coach from Van Rhyn Primary wowed to capture the primary school title this year but they were outclassed by the top teams.

TWCA Coaches: Max, Goodwill and Edmund are proud to share the glory and honor with our teams. We will do it again for 2012 and 2013. TWCA are going from strength to strength. 

In total we won 12 medals of 24 4 Gold and 8 Silver. Congratulations to the kidos. You are the best!!

TWCA students performed superb at 4th Bank Windhoek Namibia National Junior Chess Championships 2011 - Captures 3 out of 6 Medals...

Congratulations to the Junior Champions Silvestor Nanyala from Unam and Lishen Mentile from ZCA for their excellent performance. The coaches of TWCA are very proud of our students. Our goal is simple. We teach chess to children to ensure that they win at least 1 or 2 games at their next tournament. Well, the kidos are fighthers and have always come back with a medal after every tournament. Congratulations to all of them Immanuel Gariseb got a Silver medal for his 5.5/7 score in second place behind the Junior Champion Silvestor Nanyala.

Stephne Swartz also got a silver medal with 4/7 behind Lishen Mentile. Then we had Nicola Tjaronda also with 4/7. Well done kidos. You are the best!!

Worth mentioning was the sterling performance of Christo Retief. If he defeated Nanyala in the last round he would have been the Junior Champion. Unfortunately, he could not pull it off, but there will be a next time for sure and Christo will be better prepared. He has good prospects for 2012.

That was not all. We also have the following stars who took the top spots 4th Julian Isaak, 5th Christo Retief, 6th William Kamberipa and 7th Matjiua Kajovi. The other star is Camy Nitzborn in 4th place behind Nicola Tjaronda also with 4/7 in the girls section.

Then we have Jack Tjaronda, Tibor Trepper and Joshua Britz all who came to test their skill level against the best. Welldone, Welldone. You all gained valuable experience and we trust that you will have much fun next time. Chess for fun, Chess to win!!

The top 15 Juniors in Namibia with 8 from TWCA

4th Bank Windhoek Namibia National Junior Chess Championships 2011

Final Standings after round 7.

Place Surname Name Score Tiebreaks

Progr. Score M-Buch.

1 Nanyala Silvestor 7 28 23

2 Gariseb Immanuel 5.5 23.5 19

3 Handjaba Mclean 5.5 21.5 20

4 Isaak Julian 5 23 22

5 Retief Christo 5 22 19

6 Kamberipa William 5 21 21

7 Kajovi Matjiua 4.5 17.5 17.5

8 Neib Michael 4.5 17 18

9 Tjingaete Hange 4 20 20

10 Mentile Lishen 4 19 18

11 Swartz Stephne 4 18 18

12 Tjaronda Jack 4 17 20

13 Tjipetekera Samuel 4 17 18.5

14 Cloete Josua 4 17 18.5

15 Tjaronda Nicola 4 16.5 17.5

We would also like to thank our Parents for supporting the kidos. They are the future of Namibia. Thanks for investing in their future!!



TWCA Dominates 4th Bank Windhoek Namibia National Junior Chess Championships once again with Female Champion and 8 medals

The Weekend Chess Academy students captured the best female trophy, scored gold in 2 sections, 3 silver in 3 sections and 3 bronze in 3 sections. The only section where we missed an opportunity was the u/12. Our star in that section did not turn up for the event. So, results, results, results in 6 categories of 7.  It does not matter how you look at it, TWCA are once again the top performers.

Here, I want to remind the readers that our objective at TWCA is just to teach children how to win a game or 2 at their next tournament. The medals are bonuses. As the Head Coach of TWCA, I just realize once again that the kidos love chess. They also love to win and they hate losing. So our task is to teach them how to keep their composure and win the won games. What we have observed is that they will outplay the opponent and somehow falter in the last stages of the game.

The junior event is not over as 15 of our students qualified. Once again the most players from one chess academy who qualified for the finals of the Juniors. Last year we won the event when Julian Isaak 15 and Nicola Tjaronda 12, the youngest girl captured both crowns. This year they seems poised to do it once again. However, Stephne Swartz, another raw talent who took a 3 year hiatus from chess is back and she is back with a bang. She will battle for the ultimate prize and the best female prize. At the level that we are progressing TWCA stands to take the titles again.

Our competition will have to up their game as they are still trailing behind.

TWCA would like to congratulate the following winners:

Stephne Swartz for capturing trophy for the best female U20.

Julian Isaak for taking Silver U20

William Kamberipa for taking Silver U18

Jack Tjaronda for taking Bronze U18

Matjiua Kajovi for taking Silver U16

Abhinav Lahiri for taking Gold U14

Nicola Tjaronda for taking Bronze U14

Josua Britz for taking Bronze U10

Krishanu Lahiri for taking Gold U8

TWCA would also like to congratulate those players who qualified for the final event:

Stephne Swartz, Julian Isaak and Immanuel Gariseb U20

William Kamberipa, Jack Tjaronda and Christo Retief U18

Matjiua Kajovi, David Kafo and Kelsey Sabati U16

Nicola Tjaronda, Tibor Trepper, Jafet Kafo and Camy Nitzborn U14

Josua Britz and Simone Swartz U10

The final event will be played from 22, 23 and 24 July 2011 at Dawid Bezuidenhout High School.

Finally, TWCA want to thank those who also participated but did not make it to the top 6. Let TWCA take your hand and improve your chess in 1 year from last to top 6. We can do it together. Chess for fun, Chess to win!!!

TWCA Coach Participates at the SA Open & Commonwealth Championships 2011

We travelled through Botswana on Friday, 24 June 2011. We arrived in South Africa, Johannesburg at Around 10h30 and as a result came late for our first round. So we went to check in, rest and get ready for day 2.

The road trip was very tiring but adventurous. The team are: Max B. Nitzborn, Simon Shidolo, CM Otto Z.Nakapunda and CM Charles S. Eichab. CM Charles Eichab is a veteran where is comes to participating in the South African Open. He will take part in his 5th event to date. On the other hand. CM Otto Z. Nakapunda, Simon Shidolo and Max B. Nitzborn will make they debut at this event. Read more about this event later...

TWCA Chess Coach Crowned as Namibia National Chess Champion at the 6th Sanlam Namibia National Chess Championships 2011

The Namibian Chess Championships is the most prestigious event scheduled on the calendar of the NCF for 2011.

This event had all tournament favorites CM C. Eichab (2002, 2007, 2009 winner), CM O. Nakapunda (all time Olympiad), F. Dennis (2008 winner), G. Khoa (2008 Olympiad), Max Nitzborn (2010- 2nd / Olympiad) and several top juniors.

Round 1 went as expected, all top boards won. In round 2 the first casualty on the top boards was Candidate Master O. Nakapunda who lost against Immanuel Gariseb after his mobile phone rang during the game. It was in round 3 where the race was blown wide-open when top seed CM. C. Eichab drew with G. Khoa and 2nd seed O. Nakapunda lost against his student Lishen Mentile on the zero time forfeit rule.

Another interesting loss was when Thomas Kapofi could not handle the presure of writing his moves and playing the game with only 2 minutes on the chess clock. He opted to resign in what could have been a drawn game against Max. 

It’s always challenging when you play your coach, brother and regular opponent. This happened in round 4 on top board when I had to face Max. Playing white gave me more confidence as he knows my black repertoire. He surprised me with the Grunfeld defence.

I managed to reach an equal position well into the middlegame when he used a nice tactic to get an immediate advantage. A very focused Max quickly forced me to resign. This win put Max in shared 1 place with Immanuel with 4/4.

Another interesting encounter when Max played his chess student Immanuel in round 5, Max used his chess experience to outclass this young talent. This was the same round in which other close contenders stumbled, I lost to Goodwill, Charles lost to Frans Dennis and in this round Christo Retief showed his class when he outplayed Candidate Master Otto Nakapunda with black making it his third loss in a row.

With a clear lead of three points ahead of closest rival Goodwill, and fellow TWCA coach, Max grind him down on a white side of the Kings Indian Defense - Saemisch Variation. The game did’nt end without action when Max gave up a pawn to gain active play on the King-side. Near the end the game reached a drawish position, but Max just like GM Magnus Carlsen. Persisted to play and let his opponent work. Max’s guts paid of when he closed in on Goodwill who resigned with mate in three moves.

The most imported round of all for Max was round 7. Being in a must win situation in order to be sure to take the title, Max found himself on his back foot against first timer Adelino. Just when Adelino got relaxed he made the blunder of the tournament by leaving his Queen enprise, a much relieved Max grabbed the Queen, the game and the title of 2011 Nam-Chess Champ with 1 round to go.

In the last round many players, Goodwill, Charles, Immanuel, Frans, Adelino and myself, Josef, all had a chance of either Silver or Bronze. Although silver was Goodwill’s to loose and bronze Charles’s. It was Junior player Sylverster, who was fighting for Junior Gold, who denied Goodwill the Silver on Board 2. Board 3 was the battlefield for bronze between myself and Frans. An interesting battle soon turned sour when I overlooked a move and lost 30 moves later. Board 1 saw Max vs Charles which was a much anticipated match. Max not only had the title, but also the advantage as he won Charles in the 2010 Tournament. Charles rose to the challenge and handed Max his only loss and took the silver.

Max is now the 1st Rehobother to gain the title as Namibian Chess Champion. Max always said he would be champion one day when he gets more time to practice. And that day came sooner then his adversaries thought.

Max said he is working on a plan and hope to be the first player to take the title back to back, whom in the past 6 years no player managed.

This story was contributed by: National Instructor - Josef Nitzborn

TWCA Students, Dominate Junior Section of Independence Blitz 2011

The Weekend Chess Academy Students made their coaches proud the past weekend when they took top honors at the Independence Blitz Chess Tournament 2011.

The students won 6 medals in 3 age groups. That to us shows real progress. Our students make progress and are really outperformed the rest in their age group. We are very, very proud of them. The age group achievements were as follows:

Under 14:
1st Place - Gold: Abhinav Lahiri
2nd Place - Silver: Nicola Tjaronda

Under 16:
1st Place - Gold: Matjiua Kajovi
2nd Place - Silver: Immanuel Gariseb

Under 18:
1st Place - Gold: Julian Isaak
2nd Place - Silver: Mitch Nitzborn

The Coaches Goodwill, Eddy and Max also participated, but only ended 4th, 12th and 6th respectively.

Play chess on ChessCube...

Dear Chess Friend, we just got better. Now TWCA offers you an online chess experience, which will improve your chess in no time. ChessCube is a South African based online chess platform, which offers an excellent chess playing opportunity to TWCA members to play against anyone in the world. We have decided to partner up with them and test the waters. Our members at TWCA will have a special room to play chess. Read more on this soon...And yes now you can play against me too, my handle is nitzbornm, see you on Chess ChessCube, soon...

TWCA ready for another exciting year, our students are brimming with excitement.

The Weekend Chess Academy commenced with its chess instruction this past weekend. Uri is our youngest student who enrolled this year. She already knows the names of the chess pieces and how to set up the chessboard for a game of chess. Yes, at TWCA we teach from total beginners to Namibia National Junior Champions.

In the picture we have the 2010 Junior Champions of Namibia, Julian Isaak and Nicola Tjaronda with their coach FIDE Instructor Max B. Nitzborn.

Just to recap on our achievements: TWCA started to give chess lessons at Orban Primary School since 2007. In that year we won 2 medals. In 2008 we won 15 medals in national chess events. We also came second in the national school team chess championships. In 2009 we saw chess at a different level with a 10 year old girl Nicola Tjaronda beating high school boys after just 1½ year of chess training.

Once again TWCA were consistent and came second in the national school team chess championships. In the same year we won 19 medals. In 2010 we achieve even more with our double Namibia National Junior Chess Championship 2010 titles in Julian Isaak,16 years and Nicola Tjaronda, 12 years. TWCA also won the primary section of the national school team chess championships in 2010.

We are growing every year in strength, number of chess players and new techniques to improve the chess instruction. Parents who want their kids to learn chess from the best, should register this coming weekend at Orban Primary School, Mercury Street, Windhoek-West, from 9h00 to 12h00. You may also register online just go to our membership page.

Uri Tjaronda our youngest star. Watch this girl she will be great!!

Happy New Year!!

The Weekend Chess Academy would like to wish all the parents and students of TWCA a prosperous 2011. May we all excell in chess, life and school this year. God bless you all.