[imagesource: Gallo Images / Sunday Times / Alon Skuy]

It’s been a pretty average few weeks for suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule.

He’s seen the party, by and large, turn against him, and his ‘countersuspension’ of President Cyril Ramaphosa was a genuinely pathetic last-ditch attempt to try and cling to power.

Whilst Ace and his loyalists won’t go down without a fight, it appears that Ramaphosa and the party bigwigs are tired of his shenanigans.

The only media outlet that reckons Ace is in with a fighting chance is IOL, which long since lost credibility as Iqbal Survé continues to push the RET agenda for his own benefit.

On top of losing his battle within the ANC, Ace has also ended up being ridiculed for his (lack of) chess acumen, stemming from this photo shared last week on his official account:

pic.twitter.com/2FuK6oNyJL

— Ace Magashule (OFFICIAL) (@Magashule_Ace) May 5, 2021

Go on, take a closer look. Which piece is he holding, and where can he move from there?

That’s right, nowhere.

The jokes write themselves, and South Africans were quick to take the piss:

Posed photo. Each player has made two moves, Ace to move. The pawn he’s touching, from that position, cannot make a legal move. How fitting though https://t.co/Ood7p3sxLw

— Andre Vlok (@vlok_andre) May 6, 2021

My chess memory a bit rusty but Pro chess analysts have called Ace’s move either illegal or just plain dumb. What I remember is you always open with a white move. See video analysis below. #AceMagashule #AceSuspendsCyril pic.twitter.com/XjeuxkvaKs

— Onkgopotse Tiro🍿 (@TiroMokoditoa) May 6, 2021

The humiliation didn’t stop there, with one South African asking chess grandmaster and former world champion Garry Kasparov for his take:

Sorry @Kasparov63 a friend of mine and I have been trying to figure out what is this opening sequence/strategy is called (white pieces)?? @MYANC pic.twitter.com/KTThymbu2y

— KB (@starangKB) May 7, 2021

Kasparov replied, whilst apparently cry-laughing:

I would call this the “photo-op opening”! 🤣 https://t.co/oZIYzUHgpm

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) May 7, 2021

I like everything about this, other than the fact that a grandmaster uses emojis. We should all be better than this.

Use your words, people.

According to Business Insider SA, there is a possible plausible explanation for what’s happening on Ace’s board:

…Magashule was captured in the act of completing his second move – which would mean that, against the tradition of the game, black moved first.

That would not be entirely unheard of, even at the very highest levels of the game. In 2019, two champion players chose to have black move first, in what was described as an anti-racist statement.

I’m not buying it.

Ace has finally been backed into a corner, and we can only hope he’s now made to pay for what he did during his time as Free State premier.

[source:businsidersa]