South Africa gets its first chess grandmaster

[Von Tonner]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

By choosing the path he did this young man no doubt dodged a bullet. Over here after someone joins a gangbanger gets a tat of three dots to remind them of their options 'cemetery, hospital or jail'.

Hope this kid sticks with it.

Agree with you - no matter the country - any kid born into a community where gangs rule is under huge pressure to either comply, join, or turn a blind eye.

For this kid not only to buck the gangs and rise above them but to become a chess grand master to boot is simply bloody amazing.

I have been playing competitive chess in SA since my school years - have beaten a grand master once (Karl Robatsch) albeit him playing 12 players simultaneously on his visit to SA.

But as Betonov implies, who on earth would have put money on the first chess grand master coming out of the gangster slums of Cape Town South Africa as opposed to the upper middle class of South African society with its leafy suburbs of manicured lawns where time, tuition, wants, lifestyle, goals etc are so far removed from this guy it boggles the mind as to what he has had to endure to get where he is.