The 19-year-old Michal Oosthuizen would be going to “war” for the first time at the end of the month, possibly at Tuks Rembrandt Hall.
In the battle to protect his King, he will deploy rooks, knights, bishops, pawns and a Queen. Many will be sacrificed. He still must decide on an opening strategy. It might be the Berlin Defence, Marshall Attack or even the Queens Gambit, but he will only give something away the day the USSA Chess Championships start.
Oosthuizen is a first-year BComm Investment Science student at Tuks. His interest in chess started out of curiosity when he was five. According to him it is a funny story.
“I saw my dad and a friend playing a game, sitting before a barbeque fire. I wanted to know what they were doing. So, like a monkey would do, I climbed onto the table to get a better view. I told my dad I also wanted to play when I saw all those funny pieces on a board. They started teaching me. Fourteen years on, I am still playing,” he explained.
At eight, he played internationally for the first time in Saudi Arabia. Four years on, he was South Africa’s top under-12 player. When in Grade 11, he represented South Africa at a tournament in Greece. He was sixth in his age group.
When asked what he loves about chess, Oosthuizen explained that playing is like “going to war” for him.
“You got an army. The goal is to marshal your troops to ambush the opposite “army”, forcing them to accept defeat. It is often easier said than done. It helps to be prepared because it is game on once that first move is made. One move follows another, and if you are not focused, you are the one who will be ambushed. It is challenging to recover once you have made a mistake in a chess game,” he remarked.
According to Oosthuizen, people would often tell him that chess is not a sport.
“My reaction on hearing this is to ask if they had ever been involved in a four-hour-plus “battle”. You can only do it if you are a fit. I go to the gym quite often. I also like playing tennis with friends. It is also important to continuously find ways to train your brain so you can focus for long spells on end,” he said.
As to goals, Oosthuizen said he is confident he will become a FIDE Master soon.
“I would also love to play at a Chess Olympiad. It is a worldwide chess event where teams of top players compete for their respective nations,” he concluded.
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