Aluteni eyes IA title at World Chess Olympiad

Chess
Mariud Ngula
  • 3 Months Ago 11 September 2024
Namibia’s first woman to serve as an official arbiter at an international competition has set her sights on returning with an International Arbiter (IA) title.

In the upcoming 45th World Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, from today until 23 September, Namibia will be making history as FIDE Arbiter (FA) El-Shaddai Aluteni, the nation’s first woman to act as an official arbiter, accompanies the national chess teams.

Aluteni, who works as a project manager at Standard Bank Namibia, said she hopes to make the country proud and return with the IA title from Budapest.

Returning to chess

She was first introduced to playing chess at Emma Hoogenhout Primary School where it was part of the curriculum.

Despite stepping away from the game in Grade 3, her passion for the game was rekindled when she met a fellow chess enthusiast, Kamutuua Tjatindi, at the Polytechnic of Namibia (now the Namibia University of Science and Technology), who drew her back into playing chess.

“Tjatindi would later become my teammate on the national team. She convinced me to start playing chess again as their club needed more women involved and I was enticed by their travel opportunities,” said Aluteni.

She admitted that she had to train intensely to catch up for the lost time when she was away from the chess board.

“Most chess players have been playing since primary school, so there was quite a gap in comparison to me,” she noted.

Aluteni duly managed to close the gap and honed her skills to the point where she qualified to represent Namibia in international tournaments such as the 2010 Confederation of Universities and Colleges Sports Association (CUCSA) Games in Gaborone, Botswana, followed by the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in İstanbul, Türkiye, and the 2014 World Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway.

Finding her calling

Aluteni’s chess career would however not be limited to playing. Under the mentorship of Otto Nakapunda, the Namibia Chess Federation (NCF) president at the time and her late teammate and coach Richman Tjiriange, she found her calling in chess administration and arbitration.

“I was encouraged to follow the arbiter route, as we didn’t have enough arbiters at the time, especially women. So I focused on the administrative side of chess – training and studying to be an arbiter.

“In September 2014, I attended an arbiter seminar, where we also had to write an exam, which I passed and earned my FIDE Arbiter title. I went on to be an arbiter at local and regional tournaments, a role I have served to date. I have also held roles as a public relations officer for NUST's chess team and the NCF,” she said.

Assigned to World Chess Olympiad

Aluteni's historic appointment to this year’s World Chess Olympiad came after she heeded FIDE’s call of interest for an arbiter.

“I applied in February this year, along with two other Namibian arbiters and we were all endorsed by the current NCF president, Goodwill Khoa. I was interviewed by Tshepiso Lopang, president of the African Chess Confederation. And the rest, as they say, is history ... or her story,” she quipped.

Expressing immense gratitude for unwavering support throughout her chess journey, Aluteni said: “I am beyond excited and so honoured to represent the Land of the Brave on this international stage, especially being the first Namibian woman to do so.

“I actually failed to find the words to describe how it feels to be the first to do anything. I feel immense gratitude to God, my family, friends, teammates and every single person who has helped me throughout this journey in chess,” she said.

– [email protected]