The impact of COVID-19 on chess in South Africa
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
CSSALL Publishers
Abstract
In this chapter I address the question of the way that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic with its new normal and social distancing, impacts the sport code of chess in South Africa. This pandemic has already drastically altered the fixtures of numerous sport codes including the planned events and outcomes of some elite professional leagues. Chess as an Olympic sport code, although more amateur in South Africa, offers benefits across the socio-economic spectrum in terms of administrators, players, coaches and referees (arbiters). I employ an auto-ethnographic case study methodological approach, which enables one to draw on ‘personal and experiential data,’ for example, my own observations and experiences as a chess player and administrator. Amidst the uncertainty of the future and in anticipation of perhaps a large-scale devastation, the COVID-19 pandemic imposes the need for innovative and creative thinking to keep future aspirations of chess alive. Drawing on my lived experiences, I employ an auto-ethnographic approach to inspire hope for the future.
Description
CITATION: Esau, O. 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on chess in South Africa. In: Manik, S. (ed.) From high-risk sports to sports as high risk : crisis, capitulation and creativity during COVID-19. KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: CSSALL, pp. 69-84. doi:10.29086/978-0-9869936-8-8/2020/AASBS05.
Keywords
Chess -- Health aspects -- South Africa, COVID-19 (Disease) -- Social aspects -- South Africa, Chess -- South Africa -- Effect of pandemics on
Citation
Esau, O. 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on chess in South Africa. In: Manik, S. (ed.) From high-risk sports to sports as high risk : crisis, capitulation and creativity during COVID-19. KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: CSSALL, pp. 69-84. doi:10.29086/978-0-9869936-8-8/2020/AASBS05