Rapid Chess over 8800 km

Bilbao vs Durban: Intercontinental School-Chess-Meeting

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Just hours before South Africa battled England for Rugby's great Webb Ellis Cup, a battle across 8800 kilometres commenced: eight children from Bilbao, Spain, pitted wits against eight children from Durban, South Africa.

Play started at 11:00 in both countries in a virtual arena setup on Playchess.com. In South Africa, uShaka Marine World hosted the Durban team, that used computers sponsored by the University of Kwazulu Natal’s School of Information Systems and Technology, and a 3G internet connection sponsored by “Vodacom4u @ uShaka.”

After four hours of intense struggle the match was drawn 8-8!! In Spain, the Bilbao team caught the attention of two former world champions, along with four other Super Grandmasters!!

Former world champion Boris Spassky, Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna, Ukrainian GM Sergey Karjakin, Hungarian GM Judit Polgar, Former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov, Chinese GM Xiangzhi Bu and Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen watch the Bilbao team

Match results (the numbers along the top represent board position):

Individual scores (asterisk means reverse colours):

The City of Durban

Arial shot of uShaka Marine World

The Durban team, playing chess with opponents over 8800 km away!

I n Spain the players are seated in cool, well-shaded rooms

In Durban the blazing South African sun falls into the Marine World venue

All eight games are projected on a panel screen

Team manager Desmond Rooplal, DMCA Chairman Bongani Mgaga, DMCA’s PR Officer Moses Hadebe watching the games with keen interest in Durban

The Durban squad: Miguel Murugano, Adebayo Ojewole, Dhyaaneshan Pillay, Desmond Rooplal, Nashlen Govindasamy, Pranesh Nukanna, Nashin Pillay, Mondli Hadebe and Seshni Govindasamy

• All the games in PGN