Woman Fide Master Jesse February was named SA’s Young International Player of the Year 2014/2015 at the conclusion of the South African Junior Chess Championships (SAJCC) in Cape Town. The Championships saw more than two thousand players competing over 7 rounds for top honours at the University of Cape Town.
Jesse has had very impressive achievements in chess over the past eighteen months. She competed in the Commonwealth Chess Championships in India in the Open Section and attained a performance rating of 2015.
She attained third place at the African Youth Championships in Tunisia and was awarded the title of Woman Fide Master (WFM). Jesse travelled to Hungary in Europe where she took part in the Hungary Chess Festival.
In 2015 Jesse took part in the South African Junior Chess Championships in the Under 18/20 combined category and won all her games which is rare feat at that level.
Jesse won the Eastern Province Closed Chess Championships. She won the African Women’s Open and finished third at the recent South African Women Closed Chess Championships held in Cape Town.
Excelling in chess is not enough for Jesse. She has also done a great deal of voluntary work at a children’s home teaching the children how to play chess. She is in the process of forming a chess club called Black Knights. Jesse was involved in fundraising in April 2015 in order in order to assist Eastern Cape players financially so that they could attend the SAJCC 2015 event in Tshwane. She lady not only has a big brain for chess but a big heart for the disadvantaged as well. Ladies and Gentlemen, that is a true champion.
