Reg Sinden, founder member, Mitchell’s Plain Chess Club
This is the short story of the Mitchell’s Plain Chess Club (MPCC) that partnered with the Plainsman since its inception.
Our club was established in December 1980 and we used the Plainsman for regular publicity to promote the game of chess.
The net effect is that we became firmly rooted in the structures of the community.
We have been empowering hundreds of players who came through the doors of the Mitchell’s Plain Chess Club, many of them becoming successful entrepreneurs, academics and other professionals.
A case in point is a junior who resided in Westridge who joined us at the age of 13 years, and today runs a multi-million rand IT business. He is ploughing back by sponsoring the club with close to R40 000 annually.
In December 2014 the club produced South Africa’s one and only grand master, Kenny Solomon from Lentegeur.
Some of the established clubs in the country played chess for more than 100 years and never produced a grand master but from the dusty streets of Mitchell’s Plain we achieved the highest accolade that any chess club could dream of.
Thank you Plainsman for your contribution.
We have so many stories and pictures that we can share but the limited space dictates that we can submit only so much.
On behalf of the Mitchell’s Plain Chess Club, I wish the Plainsman a warm and hearty 40th anniversary and may you go from strength to strength.