SA Closed
The SA Closed is an invite-only tournament used primarily to select players to represent South Africa at international tournaments. It consists of multiple rounds, and is described in the linked page.
Over the Board
In person tournaments are organised in the Cape and Gauteng. These are typically single day, three round tournaments. They are “open”, meaning that you don’t need to qualify to play in one. The tournament format selected depends on players and range of strengths.
Tournaments are announced via the mailing list or other communication channels used by local club. If you are interested in participating in the next tournament, get in touch with the players in your area so that you see the announcement.
Online
We play two distinct types of online tournaments: “quarterly” tournaments, and Winter League. Quarterly tournaments are single day, three round tournaments, similar to the over the board tournaments. They are hosted in the summer quarters. Winter league is a five round tournament, where players choose a mutually convenient time and place for their assigned match.
If you are interested in participating in the next online tournament, contact us at our tournaments email address.
Handicap and Time Controls
Most tournaments use Canadian byo-yomi with 45 minutes “main time” and either 8 or 10 minutes per 25 moves after main time is finished. Canadian byo-yomi works well for over the board tournaments where players may use Chess clocks. SA Closed qualifying tournaments must use these longer time controls.
SA Closed qualifying tournaments must also be played “even”, or at handicap-2. This is to ensure that the tournament results represents the player strengths.
We also hold Blitz tournaments with shorter time controls, e.g. 12 minutes absolute. These tournaments are typically played at full handicap.