South African Open (chess)

The South African Open is a chess tournament played in South Africa. It was first held in 1962.

History

First held in 1962, the SA Open was held every two years until 1995, after which it has been held annually. It was not held in 1992 due to the unification of the various sports bodies after apartheid.^[1]

Tournament winners

South African Open

Year	Venue	Winner	Score	Players	Best South African player
2022	Cape Town	Daniel Cawdery[2][3]	9/11	96	Daniel Cawdery
2019	Kimberley	Johannes Mabusela[4]	7½/9	69	Johannes Mabusela
2018	Bloemfontein	Sahaj Grover[5]	10/11		Daniel Cawdery
2017	Durban	Sahaj Grover[6]	10/11	125	Watu Kobese
2016	Cape Town	Aleksa Striković[7]	9½/11	548[8]	Watu Kobese[7]
2015	Cape Town	Nigel Short[9][10]	9/11	?	Kenny Solomon
2014	Bloemfontein	Merab Gagunashvili[11]	10/11	?	Johannes Mabusela
2013	Port Elizabeth	Abhijeet Gupta[12]	9/11	?	Watu Kobese
2012	Cape Town	Rodwell Makoto	9/11	326	Johannes Mabusela
2011	Johannesburg	Gawain Jones	9½/11	388	Nicholas van der Nat
2010	Johannesburg	Robert Gwaze	7½/9	206	Kgaugelo Mosetlhe
2009	Cape Town	Amon Simutowe	9½/11	204	Nicholas van der Nat
2008	Centurion	Watu Kobese	9½/11	159	Watu Kobese
2007	Cape Town	Kenny Solomon	9½/11	159	Kenny Solomon
2006	Port Elizabeth	Gawain Jones	10½/11	155	Watu Kobese
2005	Bloemfontein	Kenny Solomon	9½/11	191	Kenny Solomon
2004	Cape Town	Watu Kobese	10/11	263	Watu Kobese
2003	Centurion	Stanley Chumfwa	10½/11	173	Kenny Solomon
2002	Port Elizabeth	Ronnie van Tonder[13]	9/11	181	Ronnie van Tonder
2001	Cape Town	Mark Levitt[13]	9½	?	Mark Levitt
2000	Alberton	Amon Simutowe	10½/11	89	Andre Nel
1999	Cape Town	Kenny Solomon	?/11	?	Kenny Solomon
1998	Pretoria	Amon Simutowe	?	?	Mark Rubery
1997	Cape Town	Gordon Meyer	9½/11	>300	Gordon Meyer
1996	Durban	Mark Levitt & Solly Mauba			Mark Levitt
1995	Durban	Gavin Wall & Mark Levitt			Mark Levitt
1993	Durban	George Michelakis & Malcolm Pein			George Michelakis
1990	Johannesburg	James Plaskett			Shabier Bhawoodien
1988	Port Elizabeth	David Gluckman			David Gluckman
1986	Johannesburg	Mark Levitt			Mark Levitt
1984	Durban	Michael Stean			Mark Rubery
1982	Johannesburg	David Sprenkle & Albert Ponelis			Albert Ponelis
1980	Port Elizabeth	Yair Kraidman & Charles de Villiers			Charles de Villiers
1978	Durban	Craig Pritchett			Peter Abbott
1976	aurthurs seat hotel, sea point. cape town	Miguel Najdorf and Michael Stean[13]	?	?	?
1974	Durban (the 7th S A Open)	Albert Ponelis and Eddie Price	9/11	154	Albert Ponelis and Eddie Price
1972	Port Elizabeth	Bob Griffiths	10/11	42	Bob Griffiths
1970	East London	Brian Donnelly			Brian Donnelly
1968	Cape Town	Kurt Dreyer			Kurt Dreyer
1966	Durban	Bob Griffiths			Bob Griffiths
1964	Wilderness	Lothar Schmid[13]	11/11	?	Melvin Hope
1962	Wilderness[14]	Harry Golombek & Alberic O'Kelly	?	?	JJ Leicher

^[1]

References

1. "Past champions". chessa.co.za. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
2. nikita (18 July 2022). "South African Open Chess Championship 2022 concluded in Cape Town – Chessdom". www.chessdom.com. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
3. "South African Open Championship 2022". chess24.com. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
4. "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - South African Open Chess Championships 2019". chess-results.com. 22 June 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
5. "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - South African Open Chess Championship 2018 A Section". chess-results.com. 14 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
6. "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - 2017 South African Open". chess-results.com. 22 July 2017.
7. "South African Open Chess Championships 2016 A-Section". chess-results.com. 9 July 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
8. Bouah, Dr. L. (8 October 2016). "SA Open Observations". chesswesternprovince.co.za. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
9. Fisher, Andrew (4 April 2016). "South African Chess Open – Cape Town – Results" (PDF). chesswesternprovince.co.za. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016.
10. "Chess South Africa". www.facebook.com. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
11. "South African Open Chess Championship 2014 A-Section". chess-results.com. 19 July 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
12. "Commonwealth & South African Open Chess Championship 2013 Open Section". chess-results.com. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
13. "SA Open Round 7 report by dr L Bouah". Chess Western Province. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
14. Lyndon Bouah (3 July 2016). "SA Open report – dr L Bouah". Chess Western Province. Retrieved 6 July 2016.