Players from Stellenbosch Chess Club dominated the inaugural Graham Solomon Blitz and Rapid tournament held the past weekend in Cape Town.

IM Henry Steel won the tournament by obtaining a combined score of 18 points out of a possible 24. Steel was followed by GM Kenny Solomon, IM Watu Kobese and NM Stephan Wagner.  Wagner is also from Stellenbosch.

The Graham Solomon Memorial Tournament was the strongest rapid and blitz tournament held in South Africa during the past year.

Stellenbosch players dominated the blitz section by clinching the top two positions.   NM Stephan Wagner won this division, while IM Henry Steel took second spot.  The time control for the blitz tournament was 5 minutes per player, with a further 3 seconds added to their time for each move, for the whole game. Stephan Wagner scored 9 out of a possible 12 points with 8 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in this division. One of his losses was to fellow Stellenbosch player IM Henry Steel.  IM Steel also scored 9 points with 7 wins 4 draws and one loss.  Wagner was awarded the top spot on the basis of tie-breaks in this division.  IM Watu Kobese came in third with 8 points.

In the rapid section held on Saturday, IM Henry Steel won second spot with 4,5 points out of a possible 6.

The Rapid tournament was won by GM Kenny Solomon with 5 points out of 6.  NM Stephan Wagner came in 9th in the rapid tournament with 3,5 points.  The time control for the rapid tournament was 20 minutes per player for the whole game plus a further 10 seconds per move.

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