The tournament was established in 2004 as part of Uitenhage’s 200th birthday celebrations. From 2004 – 2010, the tournament was organised by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s Uitenhage Library in cooperation with Drostdy Chess Club. Elizabeth Müller (from the Uitenhage library) and Ria Diedericks (from the Drostdy Chess Club) were the organisers at the time.
Early in 2011 the Drostdy Chess Club was closed down, and both Elizabeth and Ria were unavailable for the planning of the tournament. The 2011 tournament was then organised by the Eastern Province Junior Chess Organisation with the help of Bettie Conradie (chess parent).
2004 – 2011 Tournament results:
The organisers have experienced problems with past tournament results getting lost, so information about past tournaments, photos and articles are currently being collected. A website for the tournament will be created soon to make information regarding the tournament more accessible to interested players and sponsors.
2004: Held at the Town Hall; 1-day unrated tournament.
54 participants.
- A section: JP Strydom (Open section winner)
Marilize Diedericks (Highschool winner)
Wessel Zwiegers (Primary school winner)
2005:Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 1-day unrated tournament.
80 participants.
- A section: Kevin Jacobs (Open section winner)
Marilize Diedericks (Highschool winner)
Herman Loods (Primary school winner)
2006: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 1-day unrated tournament.
65 participants.
- A section: D. Anthony (Open section winner)
G. Prince (Highschool winner)
A. Neglir (Primary school winner)
2007: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament.
67 participants.
- A section: Sven Stoklose(Open section winner)
Jerome Loggenberg (Highschool winner)
- B section (unrated): Ronald Strydom
2008: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament.
179 participants.
- A section: Freddy Odendaal (Section winner)
Lyndon Appel (1300 rating-group winner)
- B section (unrated): Andile Whine (Section winner)
Riaan Robinson(High school winner)
Simon Francis (Primary school winner)
Jamie Francis (Best newcomer)
2009: Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament.
142 participants.
- A section: Shane Saffier (Section winner)
Johann Keller (<1300 rating-group winner)
- B section (unrated): JP Strydom (Section winner)
Gurshwin Prince (u/20 winner)
Lyle Saffier (u/16 winner)
Ashlene Brown (u/14 winner)
Lilitha Hempe (u/12 winner)
Abigail Muller (u/10 winner)
2010:Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament.
52participants.
- A section: Freddy Odendaal (Section winner)
Shane Maartins (<1300 rating-group winner)
Augusta van Breda (Best newcomer)
- B section (unrated): Ashlene Brown (High school winner)
Brent le Grange (Primary school winner)
2011:Held at the Uitenhage Sport Centre; 2 day rated tournament.
99participants.
- A section: Freddy Odendaal (Section winner)
Riaan Robinson (<1300 rating-group winner)
Uitenhage Chess Festival 2012:
This year’s tournament is being organised once again by Elizabeth and Ria, joined by Elsa Daniell. Thus far they have managed to secure a lot more prizes than in previous years, so the tournament is expected to have the best turnout this far.
In addition to the normal divisions (A, B, C) the 2012 Uitenhage Chess Festival will also include the 2012 EP Ladies Open division.
The planned prizes breakdown as well as the minimum expected entries is shown here:
| Section A | Section B | Section C | Ladies | ||||||||
| Expected entries: | Expected entries: | Expected entries: | Expected entries: | ||||||||
| A | R 100 | x10 | A | R 100 | x10 | A | R 50 | x30 | A | R 100 | x4 |
| S | R 60 | x10 | S | R 60 | x20 | S | S | R 60 | x16 | ||
| Prizes: | Prizes: | Prizes: | Prizes: | ||||||||
| 1 | R1000* | +medal | 1 | R700* | +medal | 1 | R500* | +medal | 1 | R700* | +medal |
| 2 | R500* | +medal | 2 | R500* | +medal | 2 | R300* | +medal | 2 | R500* | +medal |
| 3 | R300* | +medal | 3 | R300* | +medal | 3 | R100* | +medal | 3 | R300* | +medal |
| 4+ | Pick-a-Prize | 4+ | Pick-a-Prize | 4+ | Pick-a-Prize | 4+ | Pick-a-Prize | ||||
| Pick-a-Prize | Pick-a-Prize | Pick-a-Prize | Pick-a-Prize | ||||||||
| 2 | 6 month ChessCube VIP | 1 | 6 month ChessCube VIP | 1 | book – onder die see | 1 | Electric curler | ||||
| 1 | Absa towel | 5 | Brainteazer puzzles | 1 | book – the little prince | 1 | Hair dryer | ||||
| 1 | Backpack | 1 | Wooden puzzle | 1 | book – mpumi goes missing | 2 | Belts | ||||
| 2 | R100 Lions club gift vouchers | 2 | Fancy pencils | 1 | book – spiderman book | 1 | Bracelet | ||||
| 1 | Midas car cleaning kit | 1 | Wrist watch | 2 | Small Stationary sets | 6 | Bookmarks | ||||
| 1 | Large Stationary sets | 1 | Large Stationary sets | 2 | Large Stationary sets | 3 | Teddy bear key rings | ||||
| # | Assorted chocolates** | # | Assorted chocolates** | # | Assorted chocolates** | # | Assorted chocolates** | ||||
| Raffle Prizes (R5 per ticket) | |||||||||||
| 1 | DSTV decoder + Satellite dish | ||||||||||
| 2 | DSTV Satellite dish | ||||||||||
| 3 | DSTV Satellite dish | ||||||||||
| 4 | DSTV Satellite dish | ||||||||||
| * Cash pizes subject to change depending on the nr of entries in the section as well as raffle sales | |||||||||||
| ** All players (excluding top 3) are allowed a prize from the section’s Pick-a-Prize box. Chocolates provided as additional/alternative prizes | |||||||||||
