NEWS
GOOD
4
20 September 2016
No stalemate for lover of the Royal Game Frans van Rensburg
H
e was only four years old in an orphanage in Johannesburg when Lukas, his elder brother, introduced him to the King and the Queen. Since then, Marius van der Westhuizen (30) has been fascinated by the royal couple with their 32 chessmen’s strategic attack and defence moves on 64 squares. Marius now runs the Hermanus Chess Club and is a full-time chess coach, teaching children all over the Overberg to love the game like he does, “because there are very few things as therapeutic and rewarding to the soul as the Game of Kings”. He smiles when he talks about how chess helped him beat the odds in the Abraham Kriel Child Care Centre in Johannesburg. Marius reflects: “My teachers, like my brother and others at school, continued to encourage my love for the game. Of course, the orphanage also teaches you patience – an essential criteria in mastering the game.” He was chosen to represent his primary school, Jim Fouché, and secondary school until grade 10, Vorentoe, for various leagues and representative tournaments. Marius also received provincial colours on three occasions, but could not participate in many of these leagues and tournaments
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because of logistical constraints in getting to the various venues, as well as a lack of funds. “Despite those disappointments, some highlights were undoubtedly when I beat Lukas for the first time when I was in grade 8 and he in grade12, and then when I was chosen for the Vorentoe Chess Team playing Board One in the same year,” Marius recalls.
for chess after hours and in his spare time, until he got his first big break in 2013: Dr. Andrew Southey, well-known retired vet and former newspaper owner in Hermanus, asked Marius to take over his chess coaching programme at Curro School.
Marius van der Westhuizen of the Hermanus Chess Club at the Hermanus Country Market.
As he grew in mastering the moves on the board, Marius also had to master other moves to avoid potential reallife checkmates. Reunited with his mother in 2002, Marius attended Goudrif High School in Primrose where he completed grade 11 and the family then moved to Hermanus in 2004, where he started grade 12. Soon realising that his chances of passing matric could be in jeopardy in a new school with some new subjects and in unfamiliar surroundings, Marius returned to Johannesburg to live with relatives for the last six months of 2004 and passed matric at the end of the year. Marius made his successful opening move when he settled in Hermanus after matric and had to start working to make ends meet. For the first few years he found it frustrating only being able to live out his love
Rico Roos and Jonas Crookes face off at the Hermanus Country Market where the chess club can be found on Saturday mornings. For a donation, anyone can join in playing as part of a fundraiser to enable these talented youngsters to participate in the SA Junior Chess Championship in Johannesburg in December.
With that coaching underway and growing, his second big break came when local financial emigration specialists, cashkows.com, offered Marius and his chess club its boardroom at Marine Square for chess training. “These were significant opportunities” says Marius who now, apart from Curro, is a fulltime coach to more than 300 pupils at a number of other schools in the Overberg. These include Bredasdorp Primary, Rûens College, Vyeboom Christian School and De Villiers Graaff Primary and High Schools, as well as Hermanus Chess Club. “The support from cashkows really helped to put the Chess Club on the board and enabled us to structure and plan our activities. So much so that we are now coaching daily from 17:00 – 18:00 and on Saturdays we host informal blitz or rapid tournaments from 14:00 – 16:00.”
Marius coaches chess at Curro Hermanus and several other schools in the Overberg. Twelve players have been selected to take part in the SA Junior Championships but are in dire need of sponsorship to cover the costs.
Marius says he does not coach chess to primarily develop champions – he views the game as a valuable social tool. “Playing chess is therapeutic
and as their love for the game grows, it is so rewarding to see the improvement in the selfconfidence and esteem of the children, some who may be abused, neglected or suffer from an anxiety disorder. I focus on growing that love and enjoyment of the game for the first two years of their coaching, and once that is in place, playing chess competitively follows more easily. “We are having great success in that field as well. There is, for instance Annette van Wyk, one of the top 10 girl chess players in the country, who obtained her SA colours and was chosen to play in the African Schools Individual Chess Championships in August this year. There are also a number of our pupils who have been chosen for the Western Province chess teams. At the recent Western Province Top Schools tournament in Mossel Bay, the Hermanus Primary U 13 team was the joint winner.” Marius does not think that he is in an endgame with his current initiatives yet. “Personally I have had some tricky moves but a very rewarding game from Abraham Kriel to Hermanus. I am living my dream and it is great to be able to pay forward the opportunities I’ve had. As the old chess masters used to say, ‘Caïssa was with me’”, Marius observes. For chess coaching or related enquiries, Marius can be contacted at 072 065 1016 or mariusvdw7@gmail.com.
Misty turns cricket and F1 racing into blood sports
eing a Friday afternoon, The Duck ’n Fiddle is filling up. Sundowner enthusiasts from Heaven’s Valley and the nearby town of Harmony arrive in the hope of getting lucky. On the grass lawns sloping down to the Restless River, males strut around peacock-like and ladies flick their hair and flap their eyelashes. As wine and beer are consumed at an alarming rate, the polite chatter becomes a steady hum of testosterone and oestrogen.
Wit’s End
Inside the main lounge, Waylon is experiencing a different hum. He’s the Friday night DJ and his amplifier is being temperamental. He has only about an hour between knocking off from his job at the chemist and setting up his lights and speakers in the main lounge, and the last thing he
needs is an earth hum. He traces the mains lead back into the little pub to check the wiring and stumbles across Mitsy for the first time.
Murray Stewart
Looking like a cross between Penelope Cruz and Jennifer Lopez, she certainly turns heads. Waylon is riveted, as is
the group of locals hanging on to her every word. For a change Druiwe du Toit is silent. So too are the Adams twins and Waylon’s father Henrico, the barkeep. Klippies Kombrink doesn’t talk much anyway, due to his stutter, which usually ends in cursing. Mitsy has the men spellbound. She recently immigrated from Mexico and has set up a Spanish dance studio on her olive farm. Since arriving, she’s watched a bit of cricket on the TV and the sport perplexes her. She therefore has some suggestions to improve the game. “This cricky-wicky I understand only some yes, and some no,” she lilts alluringly, and the group leans forward as one, eager to
assist. She claims to have a basic grasp of the fundamentals, which are as follows: The bowler must try to hit the batter with the ball, and the batter can defend himself with a bat. If he hits the ball, one of the bowler’s friends – a fielder - collects and returns it. But if the ball goes past the fielder, the batter has to run to the other end and just stand around and watch while another batter has a chance. She’s unsure whether there are extra points for hitting a fielder, but if the batter hits the ball off the field he may not run, and once again just stands around until it’s found. This rule she fully understands: If the ball is lost, the batter could keep running till he drops from dehydration or
boredom. So far, so good.
if they want an even tan?
“No points for hitting a fielder,” advises Druiwe.
Waylon wishes he could hear more from this stunner, but DJ duty calls. With the help of his dad, they locate the hum in his amp, then he’s off to spruce up for his gig at eight. He’s expecting a bumper crowd tonight. The ad in the paper says it all: ‘DJ WAIL PHAT – live@ THE DUCK from 8’
“Fu…fu…fou…bum,” stammers Klippies. “Four or six though if he hits off the field,” continues Druiwe, downing his fourth goblet of Merlot. “But why all this standing around?” asks Mitsy. At any one stage only two or three people seem to be playing, and she feels sorry for those on the outskirts. They should be allowed to read a book, have a smoke, or listen to their iPods. Some stand out there for days, so cellphones should be optional - to call the darling or place a bet on the ponies. And why can’t they strip down to their briefs
Twenty minutes later, on his way back through the pub to the lounge, Mitsy still has the men mesmerised. She has a great idea to improve Formula 1 racing. “After every five laps of the driving,” she proposes, “they must make the U turning and go one lapping the other way round. What you thinking? You Like?”