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Talented local chess player, Nicola Putter (8), is off to Cape Town to participate in the South African Open Chess Championships which starts tomorrow.
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GEORGE NEWS - Checkmate!
Young local chess player, Nicola Putter (8), will be hearing this word a lot during the next ten days at the SA Open Championships in Cape Town.
The grade 2 learner from George South Primary School is one of the most talented young chess players in South Africa.
The chess bug first bit Nicola before she started school, when Regina Koekemoer from George Pre-primary told her folks, Marina and Riaan, that their daughter was doing very well in an activity that required her to memorise and repeat the sequence of hidden memory blocks. She believed that Nicola could do well in chess too, and recommended that the youngster start classes with chess coach, Mienkie Deas.
Whilst only in grade 1, Nicola took part in the chess SWD trials for the first time. Because of the lack of players in her age group, the u.7s, she played in the u.10 age group and ended 7th out of 30 competitors. From here she was selected to represent SWD in the u.10 category at national level and although she admits to struggling in the team event, she exceeded everyone's expectations and ended 3rd in South Africa in the u.8 individual competition.
This year Nicola, who is also a talented gymnast and enjoys playing netball, participated in the SA Closed Championships in Pretoria in April and played against the nine other most talented players in her age category. Ranked 8th, she took third place after five days of competition.
Currently this confident and well-spoken young lady, who is a member of the George Chess Club, is first reserve for three upcoming tournaments - the World Youth Champs in Slovenia, the Commonwealth Youth Games in India and the African Youth Champs in Egypt.
With her tenacity and the assistance of Deas and Albert Visagie - who has guided Nicola where her strategic game is concerned - Nicola is bound to have many more opponents in 'check mate' in years to come.
ARTICLE AND PHOTO: LEEANNE PRATT, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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