Kenneth Terence Solomon (born 8 October 1979) is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n chess Grandmaster. He is the first and currently the only Grandmaster South Africa has ever produced. He took up chess at the age of 13, inspired by his elder brother's qualification for the Chess Olympiad in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

in 1992. Borrowing a chess book from him to study, Solomon was soon taken under his brother's wing to study and within two years, he was the South African Under-16 champion. He has won the South African Championship in 2003 and the South African Open three times, in 1999, 2005 and 2007, and was also the top ranked South African in 2003. He became an

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

in 2004. During the

40th Chess Olympiad The 40th Chess Olympiad ( tr, 40. Satranç Olimpiyatı), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place in Istan ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Solomon earned his final GM

norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envir ...

. Although Solomon has never reached the

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of quality, quantity, or some combination of both. Rating or ratings may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness of an individual, c ...

of 2500 that is usually required for the Grandmaster title, a special FIDE rule allows winners of continental championships to earn the title regardless of rating, and he did so by winning the

African Chess Championship The first African Chess Championship was played in 1998. Ibrahim Hasan Labib and Mohamed Tissir both shared first place with 7/10, but the former took the title. The 2007 championship was the FIDE Zone 4 qualifier for the Chess World Cup 2007, th ...

in December 2014. This made him the first chess grandmaster from South Africa, the second grandmaster from sub-Saharian Africa after

Amon Simutowe Amon Simutowe (born January 6, 1982) is a Zambian chess grandmaster. He is the first grandmaster from sub-Saharan Africa and the third black chess grandmaster in history, after Maurice Ashley and Pontus Carlsson. He holds a Bachelor of Scienc ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

, and the fourth black chess grandmaster in history. He qualified for the 2017 Chess World Cup where he was defeated by

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United Sta ...

in the first round.

References

External links

Kenny Solomon's website
* *
Kenny Solomon
chess games at 365Chess.com 1979 births Living people Chess grandmasters South African chess players Chess Olympiad competitors People from Cape Town {{SouthAfrica-chess-bio-stub

See also

References

External links