Original Post: https://globalchessnews.com/sa-open-round-4-recap

Are you playing on board 1? Or perhaps you are on board 45!… It doesn’t matter, this is a slaughterhouse.

Round 4 concluded with multiple shocking results which saw multiple top players dropping points yet again.

Willian Nelson VS IM Watu Kobese

The lower-rated William Nelson managed to hold IM Watu Kobese to a draw. The game was based on the King’s Indian Attack Wahls Defense.

An opening variation rarely played at the top, and the probability is IM Watu didn’t look much into it. The game didn’t have many opportunities for any of the sides.

IM Watu opted to reserve his pieces to avoid falling unto William Nelson’s prep. Thus a draw between the two occurred.

Nico Martin VS FM BANELE MHANGO

Board 4 gave us a match between FM Banele Mhango(Top 10 in SA Fide) against Nico Martin(random player).

You would expect the FM to make light work of his opponent, but as we said this is not an ordinary tournament.

Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation was the opening choice. For those who don’t know the Alapin Variation is the main weapon against the Sicilians.

So this meant that both players had prepared to some extent as this is a main line.

This was a perfect example of positional play as Nico took advantage of the FMs misplaced pieces.

This is a rare occasion when you see FM Banele Mhango fail to get any counterplay in a game. (Well done on the win Nico)

CM Keith Khumalo VS Karabo Teeke

Board 10 we had Karabo Teeke against CM Keith Khumalo. Queen’s Pawn Game was on the board, and both players were out for blood.

To summarise the game, Keith Khumalo has multiple chances which he didn’t capitalize on.

This was a very unusual game, with both players making blunders and mistakes on their way to the endgame.

Karabo Teeke managed to have a good pawn storm on the kingside, which ultimately led to him winning the game.

Xolani Mathebula VS FM Shabir Bhawoodein

If you thought the drama was over then you didn’t pay attention to game 11.

Xolani Mathebula(mentioned in the previous article: https://chesshub.org.za/sa-open-22-round-3-recap/) had the white pieces against FM Shabbir Bhawoodien.

In big events, it’s very hard to predict the winner between an elite player against Xolani Mathebula.

Basically, we were expecting a war in this game and it’s what we got.

Solid chess from start to finish… The only major blunder occurred in the endgame when FM Bhawodeinmiscalculated the power of two passed pawns.

We must give credit to Xolani’s positional understanding as he managed to keep FM Bhawodein’s bishops at bay throughout the match.

Honorable Mentions

We can’t cover all the matches but we would like to give honorable mentions to players who are doing well so far.

1. IM Beukes Dante
2. Mnyasta Charlton
3. Simpson Michael
4. IM Daniel Cawdery
5. CM Bouah Lyndon
6. Mncwabe Minenhle Junior
7. FM Klaasen Calvin John
8. FM De Villiers Charles
9. Jacobs Cavan
10. Samuels Ethan

Guess The Player’s

Tell us in the comments below who you think the following two players are!

Round 5 Pairings: http://chess-results.com/tnr654683.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=5

Round 5 Games: https://lichess.org/broadcast/sa-open-2022/round-5/n11pyclp