Two dedicated Wits Chess Club members have been chosen to compete in world university championships between June 25 and 30, 2024.
At the end of June 2024, unlike most Wits students who will be taking time off to recover from an intense exam period, Amy Wallace and Lovers Mthembu will be in Uganda, representing South Africa at the FISU World University Championships for Mind Sports.
Wallace and Mthembu both made the top ten in the University Sports South Africa (USSA) open tournament and were subsequently placed in the top four of their age groups in the USSA closed tournament. Mthembu placed first in the USSA closed tournament, while Wallace placed fourth, allowing them to qualify for South Africa’s FISU chess team that will compete this year.
Wallace and Mthembu both started playing chess early in life. Mthembu said his brother introduced him to chess in 2016 and instantly became “curious about the game” and “just picked it up quickly”.
Wallace on the other hand, started playing chess in 2011 when her mother, the chess teacher at her primary school, introduced the game to her.
From left to right, Amy Wallace and Lovers Mthembu proudly representing the Wits Chess Club at the Wits Sports Conference Centre at Sturrock Park. Photo: Tristan Monzeglio
Wallace described her style of chess as “attacking” and classified herself as a “very tactical player”. She also cited Hikaru Nakamura as one of the chess players she enjoys watching and studying, because of his unique style of play and his entertaining YouTube videos.
Mthembu said he is “patient, but at the same time… aggressive” when playing chess, and “look[s] up” to chess grandmaster, Fabiano Caruana, because of the similarities in their style of play.
Both Wallace and Mthembu have been a part of the Wits Chess Club since the start of their degrees. Mthembu even said he signed up for the club during orientation week.
Wallace describes the Wits Chess Club as being full of people and teammates who are always willing to offer “emotional support”.
When asked what advice he would give students interested in improving their chess skills, Mthembu suggested that they adopt a balanced approach. He said that although he now prefers “studying chess more than playing chess”, one must do both.
Mthembu said that as “you play more tournaments… you can be exposed to a lot of different styles” and use this experience to adapt your game.
Wallace echoed this by highlighting the importance of putting whatever you learn into practice, by “playing online constantly” as well as joining the Wits Chess Club, which runs a “training programme”.
Mthembu stressed that the chess community has never made him feel “excluded”. Wallace agreed that the chess community is generally “accepting”, as “they don’t care about where you come from, your background, or anything like that”.
However, she stressed that “as a female there are some stigmas”, like a many male players who “think that it’s easier for females to get places”, because of certain lowered standards and “rating criteria for tournaments”.
However, she said gendered stigmas remain. Firstly, rating criterion is lowered for women, which leads male players to think “that it is easier for females to get places,” Wallace said.
Secondly, most tournaments have a “best girl prize”, something which others participants and brings their merit into question. Wallace said, women “just want to play, and if we get a prize, we get a prize”.
Wits University students showed-off their skills as they fought for bragging rights this weekend in inter-res, e-sports tournament.
On Saturday, April 20, Wits E-Sports hosted their second annual Inter-res EAFC24 Tournament at Wits Sturrock Park. After multiple hours of fierce competition, the Barnato Hall residence prevailed and emerged as winners on the day, taking home a custom Wits E-Sports trophy.
Wits E-Sports is a club that “promotes mind sports and electronic sports at the university”. Whilst EAFC24 is the world’s premiere football simulation game. The tournament followed a 1v1 knockout format, which was seeded based on the number of registrations from each res.
Packed into the Pete Suzman Conference Venue, sixteen participants representing Men’s Res, Knockando Hall and Barnato Hall attended the event. Players huddled around multiple gaming setups, watching attentively as participants made key tactical tweaks to try and gain an upper hand.
A Barnato Hall representative, Asanda Kubheka, stated that the tournament acted as a “bonding session” for residence members, where students could “get to know each other” and make new friends as they battled together for top spot.
A challenger from Knockando Hall, Thapelo Tlowana, agreed, saying “it’s a way to bring all the res’ together”.
(From left to right) Asanda Kubheka, Thapelo Tlowana, Silindele Nobadula and Tevin Julius representing their respective residences in the EAFC24 tournament. Photo: Tristan Monzeglio
Off to the side of the action, tournament organisers also set up a table providing snacks for challengers taking a break between bouts. Wits E-Sports chairperson, Sibusiso Khumalo, stressed how they aim to make this tournament “a tradition” and a stand-out date to remember in each residences’ busy calendars.
Khumalo also mentioned tournaments like this allow Wits E-Sport to scout and identify skilled individuals to possibly join their competitive team, which will be entered into the University Sport South Africa (USSA) E-Sport Championships in August this year.
Tebogo Rabothata, Wits E-Sport Sports Officer, added that he believes that “[building] from the ground” will allow Wits E-Sport to become more competitive and will open opportunities to invite professional E-Sport teams like Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs to participate in tournaments hosted by the department.
An intense game taking place in the Pete Suzman Conference Venue. Photo: Tristan Monzeglio
Wits E-Sport events co-ordinator, Sean Sesing, emphasised how focused Wits E-Sports is on “[getting] more females into the space”. Rabothata added that he aims to “diversify” the club and mentioned that amongst all the E-Sports teams he manages, female membership increased exponentially, from no members last year, to fifteen members in 2024.
Importantly, Rabothata also thinks that the tournament equips students with a “space… to de-stress” during a busy time of the year and “forget about the books” for a little while. This is echoed by Khumalo, who said Wits E-Sports has helped individuals find their passion outside of academics and enabled them to improve their skills in this regard.
FEATURED IMAGE: The Wits E-Sports EAFC24 trophy in the foreground, as Wits residences compete for first place. Photo: Tristan Monzeglio
The Wits University’s rowing club has their sights set on a strong end to the 2023 season.
The Wits Rowing club has made it to the fifth out of 10 positions at the University Sports South Africa rowing sprint championships at Mis Verstand dam, in Cape Town this past weekend.
Wits rowing chairperson Malose Makwea and Jason Westman won gold in the men’s lightweight pair category, in a time of 3 mins and 36 secs. The lightweight category allows for each contestant to weigh 70kgs, and there is no person steering (coxswain). The pair defeated the University of Pretoria, which was trailing behind by just six seconds, along with three other teams.
The two also came second in the men’s lightweight double, which does not consider the participant’s weight.
Unfortunately, the women’s team was not able to get any medals in this competition, however, their captain Amy Cooper said that “everyone gained important experience, especially those new to racing.” Meanwhile, Makwea said: “the team spirit is very high, and people want to do better, which is good.”
Wits Sport rowing officer Tebogo Rabothata said that he is happy with the consistency of the club and he is hoping for podium finishes at the end of the year. “We really need to up our game [going forward] to finish top two or three.” He added by saying that as training increases, so will the depth of the club.
The team at Wits is predominantly made up by those who are new to the sport. This is referred to as ‘novice rowers’, which consists of rowers who have less than one year of rowing experience.
Deborah Cronje, who steers the boat describes rowing for the club as extremely fulfilling, with the team consistently developing. “We are largely a novice team, with [the club] winning the development award at the previous boat race,” said Cronje.
Members that the Wits Vuvuzela spoke to added that it is the culture of the Wits rowing that separates it from other clubs and contributes to the rower’s growth. “Unlike high school, or other university rowing environments, we focus on enjoying the sport,” said men’s captain Troy van der Westhuysen, adding that “with [enjoying the sport] comes growth.”
Across the board, those involved with the club are looking to recruit more Witsies to row, regardless of experience level.
Currently the club is busy with preparations ahead of the Gauteng and South African Championships, which will be taking place this month.
Gauteng championships will take place on the 14th – 15th, whilst the South African Championships will take place on April 28th to the 29th at Roodeplaat dam. From the 7th to the 12th of September, the club will also take part in Boat Racing in Port Alfred, Eastern Cape. The club is hoping to send two men’s and two women’s teams to these competitions.
FEATURED IMAGE:
The Wits Rowing club’s ladies team on the water at USSA sprints. Photo: Wits Rowing
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