The Early Years

I grew up in Port Elizabeth on the South East coast of South Africa.

I learned chess somewhere around the age of 4 in 1977. My late father taught my older brother to play and I think I picked up the basics from them.

There was no junior chess at my primary school (for what was the Sub A to Standard 1, now years 1 to 3 basically) and so I spent the next 5 or 6 years just playing against my Dad and my brother. My Dad has a wooden chess set - someone has stolen the Knights and Dad had hand carved replacements that looked more like Scottish Terriers than Knights. The back of the board was a fake leather, maybe fake crocodile skin or snakeskin and I remember there were red bit somewhere on the board, no idea where that set is today sadly.

Apartheid was in full swing in South Africa, troops were involved in a border war in Namibia (then South West Africa) and Angola, there was racial segregation.

The only people I knew who were not White were our cleaner and gardener and the cleaners and gardeners of other middle class White families. And the delivery men at the family coffee roastery.

I give the above info not because I want to get involved in a political debate, but to place things in context as my story unfolds.

So aged 10, I began to play chess at primary school. We had 2 teams of 7 Boards and in year 4 I was Board 5 for the B team - B5.

Without a coach, and just the two chess books my Dad owned (one Test Your Chess book and one games collection), plus some from the local library I improved as I grew older.

In Year 5 I was B1, Board 1 for the B team and in Year 6 I was Board 3 for the A Team (A1). I don't remember much from those few years, just that I started playing in some scholastic events and won a team trophy at a scholastic team event.

In year 7 our school paid for a former local provincial champion to come and coach our 2 teams on a Monday night. He gave me a book - Rueben Fine's The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings. The book was read to death and has fallen apart, but i do own a replacement copy!

That year I was Board 1 and Captain of the A Team, but our chess teach wasn't well that year and we missed out on a lot of matches sadly. We did win another team trophy and I was included as a trialist for the provincial primary school side to go to Nationals.

I unfortunately remember missing a mate in 1 (twice I think) and losing to a weaker player at the trials. I missed out on the team to go to Nationals, but did receive my representitive colours as I was chosen to play in a larger team against our neighbouring province.

I played 1 e4 exclusively as White, everyone played 1 e4, so I only played 1 .. e5 as Black.

I could now beat my brother (had been able to for a few years) and my Dad, though he would take me down from time to time!

I had a chess hero in Bobby Fischer, David Levy's book How Fischer Plays Chess was my bible and it was almost permanently on loan to me from the local library!