Cape Town, South Africa – A group of some of the top junior chess players from South Africa have impressively qualified for the World Chess League (WCL) play-offs after finishing 7th in the global qualification stage.
Checkmating the Globe: Our Road to the Finals
To qualify for the play-offs, the team battled on chess.com over 8 rounds against teams from Philippines, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Iran and China. The team won 6 of the 8 matches only losing to the Team Iran and Dundee City who finished the season in 3rd and 4th place respectively.
| Fixture | Opponent | Country | Result |
| Rnd 1 – 22/09/24 | CatSU Chess Club | Philippines | Won 7-1 |
| Rnd 2 – 20/10/24 | Imperial College Chess Club | United Kingdom | Won 10.5 – 5.5 |
| Rnd 3 – 17/11/24 | Rooty Hill Chess Club | Australia | Won 5.5 – 2.5 |
| Rnd 4 – 08/12/24 | Team New Zealand | New Zealand | Won 6 – 4 |
| Rnd 5 – 12/01/25 | Team Iran Pro | Iran | Lost 1.5 – 6.5 |
| Rnd 6 – 09/02/25 | Chongqing Mistyland Yangtze River | China | Won 6.5 – 1.5 |
| Rnd 7 – 09/03/25 | Dundee City | United Kingdom | Lost 3 – 5 |
| Rnd 8 – 13/04/25 | Durham Alumni | United Kingdom | Won 6 – 4 |
These exceptional performances earned the team a remarkable 7th place in the world:
We are delighted to inform you that South African Chess Hub have qualified for the knock-out rounds out of nearly 100 teams in the 2025 season of the World Chess League!
This is an incredible achievement demonstrating the talent their squad has punching above their weight having defeated strong teams from the UK, Philippines, China and Australia along the way.”
Rising Chess Stars Set for the Global Stage
The youthful team is lead from the front by 14-year old International Master-Elect Caleb Levitan (Grade 9 learner at King David Linksfield) and Russian FIDE Master Matfey Rogov (Manyanani Chess Club, Cape Town). The trio from Elsies River of National Master Charlton Mnyasta (reigning under 20 national champion), Regional Master Tezihano Mnyasta and Junior National Master Jiraan Braaf who all play for Blackjacks Chess Club. Waylon Brander and Junior Master Bongolethu Ncethelo from Kraaifontein Chess Club. Candidate Master Reegan Palmer and Chase Salimu from (Curro Durbanville) along with the experienced Regional Master Ethan Samuels from Steinitz (Cape Town). The team is completed Regional Master James Dinham from Johannesburg. See below for player profiles.
“I invited these young talented junior players from across South Africa, who have consistently and regularly performed in their provinces and nationally and who have supported South African Chess Hub online events, to be a part of this special team.
Due to the cost of participation in over-the board tournaments, online chess offers these exceptional young talents an opportunity to compete and get exposure on a global stage, thereby promoting chess in South Africa and giving them a platform to be role models for up-and-coming chess stars of the future.”
SA’s Young Stars Face Off Against the UK in Play-Off Clash
The team will take on Petts Wood & Orpington (United Kingdom) in the preliminary play-offs on Sunday, 08 June 2025 at 19:00 (SA time) on chess.com to earn a place in the top 8 knockout finals taking place on 12 and 13 July 2025. These knockout finals will be live broadcast by South African streamers, ChessHeroes, on the chess.com ChessTV channel (https://www.chess.com/tv) and gives these young stars an amazing opportunity to showcase their talents on the global stage.
Petts Wood & Orpington are based in Orpington, which is 30km south-east of central London. The town’s most famous local resident was Charles Darwin, the naturalist, who lived in a large house just outside the town. He did most of his work while living there. They finished 10th in the league and former Chess South Africa president, Mr Laurence Ball, is a member of their team.
The tournament is played online on chess.com and comprises team matches with a minimum of 4 to 8 players, playing two rapid game of 10 minutes plus 5 second increments per move.
Match link: https://www.chess.com/play/match/2904965
“I am extremely proud of these young players for what they have achieved in the World Chess League and chess in general. It has been incredible to see how they have come together as a diverse group and supported one another, despite usually being in competition with each other.”
Player Profiles
Caleb Levitan
Title: International Master-electAge: 14 years old
FIDE rating: 2399
National rank: 1st
School: King David Linksfield (Johannesburg)
Youngest player to represent South Africa at an Olympiad (Budapest 2024) and become the youngest South African to earn the title of International Master by crossing 2400 Elo in 2025.
Matfey Rogov
Title: FIDE MasterAge: 17 years old
FIDE rating: 2348
National rank: 3rd
Club: Manyanani Chess Club (Cape Town)
Winner of 2024 Moja Chess Extravaganza
Charlton Mnyasta
Title: National MasterAge: 19
FIDE rating: 2172
National rank: 8th
Club: Blackjacks Chess Club (Cape Town)
South African Under 20 Champion for 2024 & 2025
James Dinham
Title: Provincial MasterAge: 21
FIDE rating: 1975
National rank: 19th
Club: Bojanala Chess (North West)
3rd place in 2024 USSA Chess Championships
Reegan Palmer
Title: Candidate MasterAge: 18
FIDE rating: 2058
National rank: 34th (6th in junior rankings)
School: Curro Durbanville High School
Club: Steinitz (Cape Town)
3rd place in under 18 section of 2025 SA Junior Closed
Ethan Samuels
Title: Regional MasterAge: 23
FIDE rating: 2012
National rank: 43rd
Club: Steinitz (Cape Town)
4th place in 2024 South Africa Open Chess Championships
Jiraan Braaf
Title: Junior National MasterAge: 19
FIDE rating: 1929
National rank: 53rd
Club: Blackjacks Chess Club (Cape Town)
2nd place in under 20 section of 2025 SA Junior Closed
Tezihano Mnyasta
Title: Regional MasterAge: 19
FIDE rating: 1955
National rank: 55th
Club: Blackjacks Chess Club (Cape Town)
Africa Schools Individual Chess Champion in 2021
2nd place in under 20 section of 2025 SA Junior Closed
Waylon Brander
Age: 19
FIDE rating: 1949
National rank: 56th
Club: Kraaifontein Chess Club (Cape Town)
Represented South Africa at the 2024 African Junior Chess Championships in Egypt
Chase Salimu
Age: 13
FIDE rating: 1872
School: Curro Durbanville Primary School
Club: African Chess Lounge (Cape Town)
Represented South Africa at 2024 African Youth Chess Championships
Bongolethu Ncethelo
Title: Junior MasterAge: 18
FIDE rating: 1844
National rank: 89th
Club: Kraaifontein Chess Club (Cape Town)
3rd place in under 20 section of 2025 SA Junior Closed
About World Chess League (WCL)
The World Chess League was set up when the pandemic started, bring hundreds of teams and thousands of players from across the world came together and competed online on chess.com while fundraising for charity in the process.
The tournament has grown from strength to strength with a significant prize fund kindly sponsored by Chess.com, and has been featured on Sky News and the BBC.
“This tournament is great! Chess.com are very happy to continue supporting these events”
There are titled players and amateurs alike from well-known teams that have participated such as Harvard, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Kyiv Chess Club and current champions Chess Club Politika from Serbia.
Famous world stars that have played in the tournament include GM Andrew Tang, wonderkid GM Daniel Dardha, former UK Champion GM Keith Arkell and GM Simen Agdestein (who was World Number 1 GM Magnus Carlsen’s former chess coach), GM Frode Urkedal, GM Vladimir Baklan, & even South Africa’s WIM Jesse February.
For more information, please go to https://www.worldchessleague.live/ or contact the tournament director, Peter Hornsby at director@worldchessleague.live or +44 07528665226.
“Due to the high cost of travel within South Africa and internationally, it is challenging for most talented chess players across South Africa to participate in national events or internationally. I am a firm believer that, although online has its obvious limitations, that there is a place for online chess to give our players invaluable experience competing against the best players within South Africa and even on the international stage.”
About South African Chess Hub
The South African Chess Hub was founded in 2020 by Paul Wilson, a chess parent from Cape Town, who got involved in chess when his children started playing in 2019. It quickly became clear that the benefits of chess presented the ideal platform to stimulate social development in South Africa.
To maximise the impact of any chess-based initiatives we need to promote and grow the sport of chess by increasing youth participation and assisting promising and talented chess players to achieve their maximum potential and in doing so develop more titled players in South Africa.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, despite being a Chartered Accountant by profession, Paul began developing an online chess community called the South African Chess Hub (www.chesshub.org.za). The primary goal of the online chess community is the promotion of chess in South Africa by offering an easy-to-use platform for chess players, administrators and event organisers to come together and celebrate the sport of chess.
Tournament organisers can list their events on the platform for free which is promoted on our social media channels. To date over 1,500 chess events have been listed and promoted on the website. The platform also offers a full event booking and management system for tournament organisers, which has sold over 18,600 entries to tournaments across South Africa, raising over R 2.8m for chess organisers across the country.
For more information, please go to https://chesshub.org.za/ or contact the founder, Paul Wilson on the below details.
“The success of these and other amazing young chess players across South Africa, shows that there are many opportunities for business to invest and support these talented players reach their true potential.”
Contact Information
For media inquiries or chess sponsorship opportunities please contact:
Paul Wilson
Founder of South African Chess Hub and team manager
Email: paul@chesshub.org.za
Cell: +27 (0)83 461 8742
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SAChessHub
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sachesshub/
Click here to download full press release
Photo credits to Flashlight Pictures