128
January 9, 2015 — South Africa now has its first ever chess grandmaster. He is 33-year-old Kenny Solomon from Cape Town.
South Africa’s Kenny Solomon who started playing chess at the age of 13, is the second grandmaster in sub-Saharan Africa after Amon Simutowe of Zambia and the eighth African.
The chess grandmaster title – awarded by the world chess organization FIDE – is the highest one that a chess player can attain and is held for life.
Solomon, who is married to an Italian chess player, received the title after winning the 2014 Africa Chess Championship which ended a few days ago in Namibia.
http://thisisafrica.me/kenny-solomon-becomes-south-africas-first-chess-grandmaster/
