Ndjobvu: A Star Who Left Opponents Haplessly Glued To Chessboard
Koketso Kgoboge | Monday May 11, 2020 14:41
His prime can be remembered by his trademark tennis ball, which he would bounce outside against the venue hall walls, while inside he had left his opponent glued haplessly to a chessboard, calculating an inevitable checkmate.
Njobvu is a naturalised citizen of Botswana who arrived in the country as a nine-year-old. He did his elementary studies in Letlhakane, a place he calls home to date and has even married from the village.
Igy, as he is known amongst his legion of fans was born to Zambian parents that moved to Botswana when his father landed a teaching job at Letlhakane Senior Secondary School (LSS).
He arrived at Mokane Primary School a jack-of-all-trades as far as sport was concerned, enthusiastically on football and athletics.
A car accident that involved him and his father robbed the then Standard 4 pupil of his passions. It subjected him to a therapeutic spell in hospital and some more time indoors at home.
Limited to none physical sports, his father introduced him to board games, chess and monopoly. He developed an interest in chess; little did he know the fallback sport would propel him to the apex.
Igy became a tough opponent for his indoor mentor, his father and prospered in the game in 1991. The following year his father arranged with a colleague who coached the LSS team, to take him to a championship in Gaborone to observe.
The LSS coach registered the 10-year-old to participate in the championship. He came head to head with the local crème de la crème of the chequered boards at the time.
The championship featured the likes of Dr Marape Marape, Socrase Mbaembae, Michael Motsimokwane and Emmanuel Tseleng amongst others.
“I don’t know how I won that championship. I figured later it was because I was not a target. Unfortunately, for them, they learnt too late when I had already collected points,” he said.
The young Njobvu failed to defend the championship the following year though everyone was awake to his presence. Nevertheless, the championship had gotten the wheels for his game rolling.
The rising star was selected to represent the country at the Under-12 championship in Germany, a trip that became a turnaround in the way he viewed for the game.
“It was unbelievable, being on an aeroplane for the first time, and without an idea of my destination. I was beset with excitement,” he remembered vividly.
After the Germany trip, he dominated the local schools' championships seven years uninterrupted and also had a say in the national championships.
Ndjobvu was the national chess champion four times, three times Botswana International chess open champion and three times rapid chess champion.
In the period, he represented the nation at five chess Olympiads and was Botswana National Sports Council sportsperson of the year in 1992.
Until he completed his senior secondary studies at LSS Tseleng, John Hutchinson and Dabilani Buthali dominated open tournaments. In 1998 he stamped authority and dictated the local chess circles until 2001.
Competition became fierce with the upcoming Phemelo Khetho and Providence Oatlhotse who raised the stakes and challenged for the top honours. The duo went on to become FIDE Master and International Master respectively.
When the tide began going south and university work demanded attention the FIDE Master titleholder called it quit on the brutal battles of the chequered boards that the young cadres brought about.
Ndjobvu said at the time chess was revolutionising with the introduction of studying the game from books and other materials and he could not balance the demands of his coursework and the game.
“I played chess for a long while at a time when we relied merely on mental strength. The revolution brought theories, and chess became a very serious subject. To keep up with the competition, it required utmost commitment and time that I did not have, hence I had to resign,” he said.
He did not get lost to the game. He had been available to mentoring and coaching and had been engaged by the Botswana Chess Federation to coach junior national teams.
“I have mentored some junior players that reached the Olympics,” he said proudly.
The former champion reckoned the game has churned out massive talent in recent years, but he was worried that with age players disappear like smoke before they could reach the world chess pinnacle, despite the open environment.
In his view, with the status of development of players, the nation should be having many players that are rated above 2300 elos. The only player to have achieved the mark is Oatlhotse.
“We need to be playing more international events in our country that can support our star players usurp those key points from international masters. We also need to target exclusive events for only elite players.”
Although he feels the local game has been, until now still a voluntary sport and yet it could do well as a professional sport, in the same vibe Njobvu feels it pays inspiringly as compared to the olden days.
Players can earn a P25, 000 in a good paying tournament and that has created a purpose of investment in the game. Back then, he said, they were inspired by travel and rivalries they built in the tournaments.
“The best you could earn was P50. The interest was meeting your rival that schooled in Francistown, the other in Gaborone and so forth. But it has undoubtedly brought us together, and the players of our generation are today one closely knit family,” Njobvu said.