Magnus Carlsen and world’s top chess players show their skills in Cape Town

World number one Magnus Carlsen plays a simultaneous chess exhibition against players from Cape Town’s chess clubs.

Some of the world’s top chess grandmasters, including world number one Magnus Carlsen, played freestyle chess against Cape Town players at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) on Thursday.

Eight top players are participating in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals in Grootbos, close to Hermanus, next week.

Freestyle Chess, also known as Chess960, is an increasingly popular variation of chess in which the back rank at the start of the game is randomly chosen from 960 possible positions. Carlsen has been championing this form of the game because players cannot rely so much on their memory of chess openings to play it.

There were hundreds of spectators at the event. Dozens of them got to play against the grandmasters.

The UWC event was organised by Freestyle Chess in partnership with Chess South Africa.

Besides Carlsen (Norway), the hundreds of chess fans were entertained by the world’s elite: Levon Aronion (formerly from Armenia, now United States), Vincent Keymar (Germany), Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran) and former challenger for the world championship Peter Leko (Hungary). Carlsen, Aronion, Leko and Keymar played a simultaneous freestyle exhibition against local players. Maghsoodloo played blitz (fast) games against young fans.

Grandmaster Peter Leko, who narrowly missed becoming world champion in the 2000s, plays freestyle chess against eager youngsters.

The crowd applauded as the players arrived at the UWC stadium. Carlsen and Aronian, who was for a long time the world number two and is known for his friendly, chatty demeanour, got especially loud cheers.

Andre Lewaks, president of Chess SA, said to GroundUp that it was a “huge development” in the South African chess world to have the tournament hosted in the country and on the continent.

Lewaks noted that elite tournaments such as the World Chess Olympiad have never been hosted on the African continent. In August this year, Chess SA announced its intention to bid for the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Chess Olympiad 2030.

Lewaks said the Freestyle Chess tournament would “showcase [South Africa’s] capacity to host this type of event”. He also said it would allow chess players to “demonstrate their abilities” and “bring chess closer to the people”.

Burton van Staaden, from the Kraaifontein Chess Club and also former Cape Town Chess President, said, “To have these grandmasters playing focuses the attention of the whole world on Cape Town.”

Lyndon Bouah, the chief director for sport and recreation in the Western Cape department, and one of the country’s leading chess players, introduces the grandmasters ahead of the event at UWC.

Tauriq Jenkins from the Observatory Chess Club said chess is an accessible sport that can be played “irrespective of race, class, creed, and physical ability”. He said it was an “intimate” sport, where you could find yourself sitting across a board with someone for hours. “The pieces become an extension of the player themself,” he said.

Next week’s tournament will include the above players (except Leko, who will be commentating for the live broadcast) as well as Fabiano Caruana (United States), Arjun Erigaisi (India), Hans Niemann (United States) and Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan).

Grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo plays blitz against promising junion Janko Weideman from Durbanville.

Iranian grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo plays against up-and-coming junior 16-year-old Bianca Hagan of Brackenfell.

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