It’s checkmate for KZN’s top youngsters

Aarti Datharam and Kaeden Govender are excited at having won at the South African championships last week and look forward to playing other children from around the world in several international competitions. Picture: Zanele Zulu/African News Agency (ANA)

Aarti Datharam and Kaeden Govender are excited at having won at the South African championships last week and look forward to playing other children from around the world in several international competitions. Picture: Zanele Zulu/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Apr 24, 2018

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Durban - Two of KwaZulu-Natal’s finest chess players will be taking on international competitions this year, starting off with the World Cadet Champions, followed by the Commonwealth Games, the Africa Youth Championships and finally the World Cadet Championships.

Kaeden Govender and Aarti Datharam both won in their age groups at the South African Chess Championships in Johannesburg last week.

“I’m excited and nervous, but feel I would do very well,” said Kaeden, who won the under 10 open section, speaking about the prospect of travelling overseas to play against other children.

The 9-year-old said he was looking forward to meeting chess players from around the world. His favourite chess player is Magnus Carlsen, the current world champion.

His mother, Vimla Govender, said she believed her son would do well at the South African championships, and the family was very excited when he won. “We were overjoyed,” she said.

Govender said Kaeden had been playing chess since he was 5 and started to show promise six months after he was taught how to play the game by his father, Kuben - whom he soon began to give a run for his money.

“At one stage his dad couldn’t sleep because Kaeden beat him in a game. He got up at night to google some moves to beat him,” she said.

Aarti also had a meteoric rise in chess. She won the U12 girls’ section at the national championships. Her father, Kiran Datharam, said his daughter had been playing chess since 2013.

Datharam said she was miles ahead of him when it came to playing chess. Her three siblings also play.

Having won in the under 8 and under 10 girls’ categories previously, Aarti said she felt good after her latest win. “I was excited and scared at the same time,” she said.

“Chess helps with maths and science as it helps me to calculate, and it is also fun,” she said.

Erick Takawira, president of Chess KZN, said the win helped the organisation in its efforts to make the province the home of chess.

He said Aarti and Kaeden would have a busy schedule ahead of them as they would be competing at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in June, in Kenya at the African Youth Championships in August, and in Spain for the World Cadet championships in November.

Becoming a South African champion was not an easy feat, Takawira said. “You can’t just pitch up. It is the best of the best,” he said.

In Aarti’s group there were 24 contestants and in Kaeden’s group there were 32 competitors, he said.

Daily News

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