Matie says ‘checkmate’ at recent championship

A Maties chess player was recently crowned champion of the sixth annual Western Cape Women’s Chess Championship. Anika du Plessis competed along with three of her fellow Maties chess members who finished third, eighth and eleventh respectively. 

This is according to Daniel Barrish, club chairperson of the Maties chess team. The championship was held in Langebaan over the weekend of 10 August.

Du Plessis’s recent win saw her Elo rating climb to 1804, placing her at seventh overall in South Africa, according to the International Chess Federation. Elo ratings are used to calculate the relative strength of a chess player compared to other players, as well as calculating a player’s probable outcome in competitive matches, according to Chess.com’s official website.

Maties chess player, Anika du Plessis, won this year’s Western Cape Women’s Chess Championship. PHOTO: Ubaid Abrahams

One of SA’s best

Du Plessis, currently a masters student at the centre for bioinformatics and computational biology at Stellenbosch University, has proved to be an exceptional talent in the South African chess scene, said Barrish.

“She has represented South Africa at the 2022 International University Sports Federation World University Championships and the 2023 African Individual Championship. She would have been a top contender at the 2024 SA Women’s Championship, had the schedule not clashed with her semester exchange abroad,” said Barrish.

A number of Maties chess members played at the championships, including Rebecca Selkirk, who placed third, Thembisile Makhubu, who placed eighth, and Zanté Palmer, who placed eleventh. Palmer praised Du Plessis for her skill and composure shown during the competition.

Anika du Plessis, Maties chess player, and the other participants’ recent performances at the Western Cape Women’s Chess Championship are a positive boost for Maties chess, leading up to their end-of-year University Sports South Africa (USSA) Championship. This is according to Daniel Barrish, Maties chess club chairman. PHOTO: Ubaid Abrahams

“She is very patient in her game. She is willing to spend as much time as possible, thinking about what her best move can be. One of her games this weekend took the entire four hours,” said Palmer.

Barrish believes that Du Plessis’s recent performance, along with the performances of the other club members, bodes well for Maties ahead of the University Sports South Africa (USSA) Championship at the end of the year.

More than just a champion

Du Plessis sees her win as a means of inspiration to others, especially since her victory came during August, which is women’s month.

“It is an opportunity to show girls that there are people they can look up to because chess is a sport mainly dominated by men,” said Du Plessis.

“Stellenbosch University has managed to attract some of the strongest players in [South Africa] and establish itself as one of the strongest chess universities in the country,” said Daniel Barrish, club chairman of Maties chess. PHOTO: Ubaid Abrahams

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