IMBALI Chess Club was crowned the overall winners at the Umgungundlovu Clubs Tournament, held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg Campus last Saturday.
A first of its kind in Pietermaritzburg, the tournament was organised by the Umgungundlovu Chess Association (a district federation).
Imbali Chess Club founder Bheki Majoro told Echo that it was a tough tournament but they are happy that they won.
He said there were seven clubs from Pietermaritzburg that took part in this tournament.
“We won all our games and we are very excited. This shows that our players have a potential and they are working very hard at putting Imbali Chess Club on the map. This victory encourages us to continue and work even harder and improve our playing skills.
“Although we had some tough games during the tournament, we had hope that we will become the winners because other games were very easy,” he said.
Majoro said that, although they are excited about their win, the club still faces a number of challenges and appealed to the community for help and donations.
“The team that was playing was a very small team — we need more players to come and join the club.
“We also still do not have chess sets, chess clocks and we are also in need of 30 golf t-shirts which will be our uniform.”
For more information about the club, call 061 434 6214.