Kheto's chess journey from home to the boardroom
Koketso Kgoboge | Tuesday April 28, 2020 10:27
His career blossomed right from the Kheto homestead in Block 5 in Francistown, as he and his brother enjoyed a fierce but ultimately rewarding rivalry on the chessboard.
King Zuru, as the International FIDE Master is affectionately known, has seen his chess journey start off promising, before boardroom squabbles almost put paid to his dreams.
Kheto was forced to quit the sport four years ago, due to wrangles with the then administrators, but he has bounced back to claim his place at the apex of chess.
His rise was, among others, inspired by a moment when he won P30 after his triumph in a local tournament.
King Zuru made his first chess moves almost two decades ago. His brother, then a student at Montsamaisa Junior Secondary School, introduced Kheto to the game.
Kheto was quick to grasp the chess concepts and soon a rivalry between the siblings developed.
“He became my main target. I just wanted to beat him. I lost the first few games, but it wasn’t long before I became a champion at home,” Pheto said. He got inspired from seeing his brother floor opponents at a series of tournaments across the country. Knowing he was better, he developed an appetite for his brother’s opponents.
The then Standard Six pupil was granted his wishes when his brother’s school team coach, Thomas Moremong allowed him to practise. It took a week, and the youngster was drafted into the team that represented Montsamaisa at an open tournament sponsored by A1 Garage. The young Kheto met renowned chess faces he had learnt about through his brother.
These included household names Ignatius Njobvu, Keabetswe Phiri, Moatlhodi Kgosimore, Emmanuel Tseleng and many others. He lost the opening game of the Open tournament to Nedjo Stevanovic, a Yugoslav player. But at the end of the seven-round tournament, he emerged as the best junior secondary school player. “I won P30, wow! I was happy with my first outing so was my coach,” he remembers.
Kheto idolised Njobvu, who was two years his senior. Njobvu devastated opponents and raked accolades in the senior categories. Just like his brother, Njobvu became his next target. Two years down the line, Kheto was renowned. In 1997, together with Njobvu and Phiri, they went on a 40-day England tour.
They played the British Championship and Kheto turned out for the Under-13 and Under-15 section finishing with a fair score in both categories. A series of events in Brighton & Hove, Leeds, and Blackpool followed. The last stop was in Chorley. He won an Open Tournament and got £110. At the turn of the millennium, he was an established top player in the country.
A year later, the then Form Five student sacrificed midyear examinations to study chess with International Master (IM) Nikola Karaklajić in Yugoslavia. After 40 days of fine-tuning his chess tactics, he returned home. He faced and aced the senior secondary school examinations. King Zuru pursued a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Botswana. From 2002 to 2012, he was the highest-rated player in the country. He attained a FIDE Master title in 2004 at the Chess Olympiad in Mallorca Spain. He won three national chess championship titles in a row without a single defeat and put up another sterling performance at the 2008 Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, where he lost only one game. His next target was the IM title, but an iceberg laid down under.
Achieving the dream meant playing in competitive tournaments in Europe’s shores and that came at a price. The player said he raised funds and saved the money in the Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) account. His goal was to go to Hungary but was denied a visa at the last minute. It meant looking elsewhere and a few months later, he found the tournament that provided the desired opportunity.
“I went back to BCF for the money that I had raised, but alas. Those in the office at the time refused to give it back and claimed it was public funds,” he said. The experience disturbed his performances, and he fared unimpressively at a self-sponsored tournament in Casablanca, Morocco. Upon returning, he went back knocking at the BCF for the funds he raised and that sparked an outrage that gave birth to sabotage and frustrations.
“At that point, I decided to quit chess and focus on other aspects of life while waiting for four years to elapse so that those in the executive committee could vacate office,” he said.
“Chess has no retirement age, and chess players will always be there, while unscrupulous administrators will always come and go. I waited knowing no one could stop the time.” When the new administration was ushered in, two years ago, he picked up the pieces and swiftly made it back into the national team. His new journey started in Mozambique at the Southern Africa Zone 4.3 Individual Chess Championship. He attained a second position and a silver medal.
The same year he was a student of the Egyptian grandmaster Essam El-Gindy who was horning the national team for 2018 Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia. He became the team’s leading performer with seven and a half points in 10 games at the world showpiece. Last year, the FIDE master was crowned the national chess champion. He sees himself as a future coach to younger players, sharing both his chess and computer programming skills.
“The benefits of chess are endless, but the whole intention wouldn’t be for them to play competitive chess but to use it as a pedagogic tool, which could enhance logic, memory and thinking abilities in children.”