National Stadium hosts speed chess

KENNETH BOIKHUTSWANE
Correspondent | Friday February 1, 2008 00:00

The one-day event will be held tomorrow at the National Stadium. Each player will have five minutes per game. The defending champion is FIDE Master (FM) Phemelo Khetho.

Roscoe Bonna is always an eagerly awaited and popular speed chess event. Spectators will be treated to a spectacle as blitz experts like Providence Oatlhotse, Tebogo Pitlagano, Moakofi Notha and Barileng Gaealafshwe will be in action. Last year, Khetho swept aside everyone in his path, is generally not considered a strong blitz player by his rivals.

However, his performance at this year's event will be keenly watched. Should he triumph again, then his competitors will have to accept that he is too good for them in speed chess. He regularly plays speed chess on the Internet.

Speed chess is competitive but is played in a relaxed atmosphere. It tests players' ability to calculate moves quickly in limited time.

Blunders are very common and this has never failed to excite spectators. Rules for this type of chess are different too. Players can get away with illegal moves as long as the opponents do not detect. However, should such an offence be noticed, the game is immediately lost. Even more interesting is that should pieces not be in their rightful positions at the beginning of the game, they can only be re-arranged before the third move.

As a result, some players intentionally shuffle the pieces around in the hope that their opponents do not notice this at the beginning of the game. Although this may sound unethical, players are well aware that they have a responsibility to make sure they are not swindled in this manner.

Meanwhile, the Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) announced last weekend that players will have to bring their own chess sets and clocks to tomorrow's event. The BCF is not providing the clocks and sets because they are usually stolen or destroyed at tournaments.

BCF vice president Boitumelo Keinyatse announced that if players are using their own equipment, then they will take better care of them.