The Paul Roos Chess Championship of 2018 was won by former Western Province Open Champion and World Amateur Champion of 2003, Dr Sabir Bhawoodien.
Fide master Bhawoodien scored an impressive 5,5 points out of a possible 6 to win the elite section. He played the whole tournament on Board 1.
Cherwin Kleinsmidt and candidate master Seth Riley Adams followed in the second and third place, respectively. The best placed players from Stellenbosch were Heinrich Basson in fourth place and candidate master Andrew Floris Bartoli, a Paul Roos pupil, in fifth place. The A section was won by Junior Mncwabe. Stephen Gallied and Andrian Wright came in second and third. Shane Klaase, a Maties student, was placed fourth.
In the B section Migael van Schaik from Stellenbosch Chess Club (De Hoop Primary) was placed first with 5 out of 6, with no losses. He was followed closely by Cian de Kock and another Paul Roos pupil Laurence Briedenhann.
In the highly competitive C section Nqobani Ndimande scored an unbeatable 6 wins out of 6 games followed by 9 players on 5 points out of 6. On tie-breaks Rafael Davids was placed second and Nyiko Moroti third. Among the players who scored 5 out of 6 were James Hayman, Cheslin Palmer and Teshwill Horn from Stellenbosch.
The tournament held at the Markotter, the practice ground of the Blitsbokke, was attended by more than 200 chess players from all over the Western Cape and included numerous titled players.
The Elite section of the tournament was the first Fide (International Chess Federation) rated tournament in the Cape Winelands. The championship was hosted by the Stellenbosch Chess Club, Paul Roos Gymnasium and Maties Chess.
