1. Introduction

We have now played three games already. We started on Sunday and on Monday we had a double round. It is amazing how fast a tournament can go. Today was the only double round. Before we get into all the results of the 2026 SA Open let’s reflect a bit back to the 1970’s.

In 1970 the SA open moved from Cape Town and went to East London. It was great that the events were being rotated. Brian Donnelly won the event. Viktor Strugo recalled that Brian Donnelly dominated chess in Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe for 15 years from about 1968. He was a multiple national closed champion but was deprived of the legendary January Open title by the SA invasion, until he and Strugo were in the 6-way multiple tie (others being Schackis, Dreyer, Aalbersberg and Harpur). In 1069 he played in the zonal in Praia de Rocha in Portugal and came 11/18^th beating Mariotti (Italy) Mariotti became Italy’s first grandmaster in 1974.

East London (Above)

Donnely,Brian – Visier Segovia,F [B35]

Zonal Praia da Rocha Praia da Rocha (4), 1969

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 Qa5 8.0–0 0–0 9.Bb3 d6 10.f3 Bd7 11.Qe1 Rfc8 12.Rd1 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Bc6 14.f4 Nd7 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Qh4 Nf6 17.f5 Qe5 18.Rd3 Bxe4 19.Nxe4 Qxe4 20.Qxe4 Nxe4 21.fxg6 f6 22.gxh7 Rc5 23.Rf4 Ng5 24.Rg3 Kh8 25.Rfg4 d5 26.h4 Nxh7 27.Rg7 Re8 28.Rf7 e5 29.Rg6 Rg8 30.Rxg8+ Kxg8 31.Rxb7 Nf8 32.Rxa7 e4 33.Re7 Kh8 34.Re8 Kg7 35.Rd8 d4 36.Rxd4 Re5 37.Kf2 Ng6 38.g3 1–0

See the game here: https://lichess.org/GLANrWK4

Mariotti,Sergio – Donnely,B [D12], Zonal Praia da Rocha (13), 1969

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 c6 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 e6 7.Nbd2 Nbd7 8.b3 Be7 9.0–0 0–0 10.Bb2 Qa5 11.a3 Rad8 12.Rfe1 c5 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.e4 Nf4 15.Qe3 Ng6 16.Nc4 Qc7 17.Rac1 Qf4 18.Qe2 cxd4 19.Nxd4 Nf6 20.h3 a6 21.g3 Qh6 22.Kg2 b5 23.Na5 Bxa3 24.Nac6 Bxb2 25.Qxb2 Rd7 26.Rc5 Re8 27.Re3 e5 28.Nf5 Qg5 29.Nxe5 Rxe5 30.Qxe5 h6 31.Qb8+ Kh7 32.Qc8 Rd2 33.Rc2 Nf4+ 34.Kh2 Ng4+ 35.hxg4 Qxg4 36.gxf4 Qxf4+ 37.Kg2 Qxf2+ 38.Kh3 Rxc2 39.Qf8 Qg2+ 40.Kh4 g5+ 41.Kh5 Qh2+ 42.Kg4 Rg2+ 0–1

See the game here: https://lichess.org/TmXHtKs1

In 1972 the action moved to Port Elizabeth where Bob Griffiths won his second title.

Port Elizabeth (Above)

In 1974 Albert Ponelis edged Eddie Price to win on tie break. Mr Ponelis lives in Pretoria and has always been a gentleman of the game.

Albert Ponelis (Above)

01302243_960_472_80auto_s_c1_center_center

Hill,K (2005) – Ponelis,Albert (2110) [B40]

RSA Open ch VII Durban (10), 07.1974

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 d5 5.exd5 exd5 6.0–0 Nf6 7.d3 Bg4 8.h3 Bh5 9.c4 d4 10.g4 Bg6 11.Nh4 Be7 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.Bf4 Bd6 14.Re1+ Kf8 15.Bxd6+ Qxd6 16.Nd2 Ne5 17.Nf3 Nfd7 18.Nxe5 Nxe5 19.Qe2 f6 20.Qe4 g5 21.Re2 Rb8 22.f4 gxf4 23.Qxf4 Nxc4 24.Qxd6+ Nxd6 25.g5 Nf7 26.gxf6 gxf6 27.Rf1 Rh6 28.Re6 f5 29.Re2 Nd6 30.Be4 Re8 31.Bxf5 Rxe2 32.Bg4+ Ke7 33.Bxe2 Rxh3 34.Rc1 Re3 35.Kf2 b6 36.b4 c4 37.Rd1 c3 38.a4 Nf7 39.a5 Ne5 40.Kf1 Kd6 41.axb6 axb6 42.Kf2 Kc6 43.Rb1 Kb5 44.Kf1 Nc6 45.Bd1 Nxb4 0–1

See the game here: https://lichess.org/V7Jyo1OR#19

In 1976 the legendary Miguel Najdorf was the joint winner of the SA Open in 1976 held in Cape Town. Let us have a look at some of his games. David Friedgood is a multiple SA Champion and represented South Africa at Olympiads prior to the banning of SA in the 1970’s.

Miguel Najdorf (Above)

Michael Stean (Above)

Cape Town (Above)

Friedgood, David – Najdorf, Miguel [C41], RSA Open ch VIII Cape Town, 1976

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0–0 0–0 7.Bb3 c6 8.a4 exd4 9.Qxd4 Nc5 10.Ba2 Be6 11.Bxe6 Nxe6 12.Qc4 d5 13.exd5 cxd5 14.Qb5 a6 15.Qe2 Re8 16.Rd1 Bb4 17.Qd3 Qc7 18.Bd2 Rad8 19.Nb5 axb5 20.Bxb4 bxa4 21.Rxa4 Nf4 22.Qb3 Ne2+ 23.Kf1 b5 24.Ra6 Ng4 25.g3 Qc8 26.Ra7 Najdorf now spots an interesting move. What did he play here?

Nxh2+! 27.Kg2 How did Black proceed with the attack?

Nf4+! A superb move! Najdorf is making effective use of his knights. 28.gxf4 Qg4+ 29.Kxh2 Re6 30.Ng1 Rh6+ 31.Nh3 Qxd1 32.Be7 Re8 33.Rd7 Rh5 34.Qe3 Qxc2 35.Ba3 Rxh3+ 36.Qxh3 Qxf2+ 37.Qg2 Qh4+ 0–1

See the full game here: https://lichess.org/depDGVQG#74

Najdorf, Miguel (2500) – Glyn, Julian (2150) [A05]

RSA Open ch VIII Cape Town (11), 1976

1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.0–0 Bg7 5.e4 d6 6.d3 Nf6 7.Nbd2 Rb8 8.c3 b5 9.Re1 0–0 10.d4 Nd7 11.Nb3 b4 12.Be3 bxc3 13.bxc3 Na5 14.Nfd2 Nxb3 15.axb3 Qc7 16.Ra2 Nf6 17.Qa1 a6 18.h3 Rd8 19.Ra4 cxd4 20.cxd4 Be6 21.Rxa6 Bxb3 22.Ra7 Qc6 23.e5 Nd5 What did GM Najdorf now play to secure the point?

24.Nxb3 Rxb3 25.Qa5 1–0

See the full game here: https://lichess.org/Ks3Mf3ib#49

Najdorf, Miguel – Kroon, Piet [D88], South African Open ch, Cape Town, 1976

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 0–0 8.Ne2 c5 9.0–0 Nc6 10.Be3 cxd4 11.cxd4 Na5 12.Rc1 Nxc4 13.Rxc4 b6 14.Qa4 Qd7 15.Qa3 b5 16.Rc5 a5 17.Qc1 b4 18.Rd1 Qa4 19.Qd2 Ba6 20.Nc1 Bb7 21.f3 Rfc8 22.Nb3 Rxc5 23.Nxc5 Qb5 24.d5 Rc8 25.Nxb7 Qxb7 26.Bd4 Bxd4+ 27.Qxd4 a4 28.e5 b3 29.axb3 axb3 30.d6 exd6 31.exd6 b2 32.d7 Rd8 33.Rb1 ½–½

See the full game here: https://lichess.org/DKYjD7mu#65

In 1978 the SA Open travelled to Durban. Craig Pritchett is a Scottish IM who has represented Scotland at nine Olympiads. He is a chess coach, author and twice won the Scottish Championships (1977 and 2005).

Craig Pritchett (Above)

Pritchett, Craig – Rust, Keith [B84]

RSA Open ch IX Durban, 1978

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.0–0 Qc7 8.f4 Nc6 9.Be3 Be7 10.Qe1 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 e5 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.Qg3 Bc5 14.Bxc5 Qxc5+ 15.Kh1 Kf8 16.Nd5 Nxe4 17.Qxe5 Nf6 18.Rad1 Nxd5 what did eventual champion Pritchett play here as white?

19.Rxf7+!! Kxf7 20.Rf1+ Nf6 21.Qxc5 Re8 22.Bc4+ Be6 23.Qc7+ Kf8 24.Bxe6 Rxe6 25.Qxb7 Rd8 26.h3 Re2 27.Qb4+ Ke8 28.Re1 1–0

See the full game here: https://lichess.org/pSzb9U6Z#55

In the rounds to date SA Open Champion James Dinham was held to a draw in round by Andre Schutte. Schutte recently had an excellent performance at the World Seniors 2026 in Albania where he scored 6/9.

After round two this morning only four players remained on perfect scores. They were Matfey Rogov ( seed one) who played Calvin Klaasen on one in round three. On board Charlton Mnyasta plays Tezihano Mnyasta. No love lost here.

In the Ladies WIM Denise Bouah is playing Sizakele on board one. Both are on full score.

On Board two Imkhitha Joya is playing Tshegofatso Mahuma who is also on full score.

In the Advanced section there are 10 players on full score after round 2.

In the intermediate section there are also ten players.

It seems that a new record may be set in this event. If all the players pitch on Thursday for the junior section then over 700 players will be participating in the SA Open 2026. The last time we had these big numbers was 2011 in Gauteng when the Commonwealth was held at the same time at Emperors Palace and also in the then Port Elizabeth, now Qqeberha in 2013 when the Commonwealth was again held.

It is good to see old friends and people from all over SA and Africa participating. That is what an event does. It brings people together.

Kindly see the crosstables now for round one and round two.