South African Chess Championship

The South African Chess Championship was first organised in 1892 by the Cape Town Chess Club. It is now organised by Chess South Africa (CHESSA), the governing body of chess in South Africa. The tournament is normally held every two years. It is restricted to chess players resident in South Africa (although exceptions have been made on occasion) and participation is by invitation only.

CHESSA was formed in 1992, after unification talks between various chess bodies that commenced the previous year. The 1995 event, the first organised by CHESSA, included titled players from Angola and Zimbabwe and was run on the Swiss system. Since that date, the tournament has been held on a round-robin basis. The winner of the tournament holds the title of South African Closed Chess Champion until the next tournament is held.

Historically, the tournament was usually held on a round-robin or double round-robin basis. In case of a tie for first place, a playoff match was usually conducted. In the early days, the title holder could also be challenged to a title match, and these matches are tabled below.

Winners of the national championship

#	Year	City	Open Winner	Women's Winner
1	1892	Cape Town	Arthur Rivett Edward Roberts[1]
2	1897	Cape Town	Edward Roberts
3	1899	Durban	Abraham Michael
4	1903	Johannesburg	Francis Joseph Lee
5	1906	Cape Town	Bruno Edgar Siegheim
6	1910	Cape Town	Harry Duhan
7	1912	Johannesburg	Bruno Edgar Siegheim[2]
8	1920	Cape Town	A.J.A. Cameron Alexander Chavkin
9	1924	Durban	Alexander Chavkin
10	1926	Johannesburg	Max Blieden
11	1928	Cape Town	Max Blieden
12	1935	Johannesburg	John C. Archer jr
13	1937	Cape Town	Kurt Dreyer[3]
14	1939	Durban	Wolfgang Heidenfeld
15	1946	Johannesburg	Wolfgang Heidenfeld John Holford
16	1947	Cape Town	Wolfgang Heidenfeld Kurt Dreyer
17	1949	Durban	Wolfgang Heidenfeld
18	1951	East London	Wolfgang Heidenfeld
19	1953	Johannesburg	John E. Eriksen
20	1955	Cape Town	Wolfgang Heidenfeld
21	1957	Durban	Wolfgang Heidenfeld
22	1959	Johannesburg	Wolfgang Heidenfeld Kenneth Kirby
23	1961	Cape Town	Woolf Gerber
24	1963	Pretoria	Kenneth Kirby Kees van der Meyden
25	1965	Salisbury	Piet Kroon
26	1967	Johannesburg	David Friedgood
27	1969	Pretoria	Piet Kroon
28	1971	Johannesburg	David Friedgood
29	1973	Cape Town	David Friedgood
30	1975	East London	Piet Kroon Charles de Villiers
31	1977	Pretoria	David A. Walker Charles de Villiers
32	1979	Johannesburg	Frank Korostenski
33	1981	Cape Town	Charles de Villiers
34	1983	Pretoria	Donald Macfarlane
35	1985	Johannesburg	Clyde Wolpe Charles de Villiers
36	1987	Pretoria	Charles de Villiers[4]
37	1989	Secunda	Charles de Villiers
38	1995	Cape Town	David Gluckman
39	1998	Bruma Lake	Mark Rubery Watu Kobese
40	2000	Port Elizabeth	Nicholas van der Nat
41	2003	Kempton Park	Watu Kobese Kenny Solomon
42	2005	Cape Town	Nicholas van der Nat
43	2007	Cape Town	Henry Robert Steel
44	2009	Cape Town	Nicholas van der Nat
45	2011	Cape Town	Henry Robert Steel Watu Kobese
46	2014	Cape Town	Donovan van den Heever[5]
47	2015	Cape Town	Daniel Cawdery[6]
49	2017	Cape Town	Johannes Mabusela, Calvin Klaasen [7]	Jesse February [8]

Winners of the South African Title

• 1897 Edward Roberts (defeated Arthur Cameron in challenge)
• 1898 Edward Roberts (defeated P.G. Van Breda in challenge)
• 1910 Max Blieden (defeated Bruno Edgar Siegheim in challenge)
• 1911 Bruno Edgar Siegheim (defeated Harry Duhan in challenge)
• 1912 Bruno Edgar Siegheim (defeated Henk Meihuizen in challenge)

References

• A History of Chess in Southern Africa, by Leonard Reitstein (2003), ISBN 978-0-620-29829-2. This covers the period from 1892 until 1945.
• South African Chessplayer, edited by Leonard Reitstein, published from 1953 to 1986.
• Guinness Chess: The Records, by Ken Whyld (1986), page 114. This list covers the period from 1892 until 1986.
• Chess In The RSA, edited by Charles van der Westhuizen and others, published from 1987 to 1990.
• Chess in Southern Africa, edited by Mark Levitt and others, published from 1991 to 1995.
• The Week In Chess (TWIC) by Mark Crowther. Refer to TWIC187 for 1998, TWIC286 for 2000, TWIC451 for 2003, TWIC548 for 2005, TWIC685 for 2007, TWIC791 for 2009, TWIC892 for 2011.
• On the 1924 championships: