An 11-year-old schoolboy from Constantia, Cape Town, has endured a three-hour chess match against the man widely known as the greatest chess player ever. The match ended in a draw, and was part of the Cape Town launch of the Kasparov Chess Foundation in Africa. But, we have little doubt Daniel Barrish wouldn’t be claiming this one at break-time today.

Garry Kasparov was the World Champion chess player from 1985 – 2000, and has pretty much achieved everything there was to achieve before he retired from professional competition in 2005.

Daniel, who, started playing at the age of four, is a Grade six pupil at SACS in Newlands, but is already an impressive chess player.

His accolades include winning the SA under-10 championship for three years in a row, winning the all-Africa under-10 title in 2009, and being awarded the title of Fide (World Chess Federation) Master.

He bagged his first tournament victory at six years old.

He was stoked with his achievement yesterday:

I’m very happy and actually amazed and overwhelmed because [Kasparov] is my role model.

Daniel had readied himself by watching Kasparov’s games on a computer.

The match took place in Khayelitsha at the OR Tambo Indoor Sports Centre, and was a launch event for the Kasparov Chess Foundation in Africa in the Cape.

Kasparov was to fly to Gauteng to meet President Jacob Zuma at his official residence in Pretoria today.

Zuma is a patron of Moves for Life – a programme that introduced chess in education.

Yesterday’s event was aimed at showcasing the fact that chess could assist in social challenges and “breaking down barriers,” Kasparov said.

Hannes Pieterse, Western Cape co-ordinator for Moves for Life, continued that over and above this, there is an emphasis on education, because chess can help to teach basic principles in maths, science and literature.

On a future “SA grandmaster”, Kasparov said:

It’s all about the numbers, better infrastructure… getting a grand master is about managing the resources.

Daniel was one of 26 opponents, who ranged in age from 11 to 39, that took Kasparov on yesterday.

[Source: IOL]