Kenny Solomon
{{Short description|South African chess grandmaster (born 1979)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use South African English|date=September 2012}}
{{Infobox chess player
|name = Kenny Solomon
|image = KennySolomon19.jpg
|caption = Kenny Solomon, 2019
|birthname = Kenneth Terence Solomon
|country = {{RSA}}
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1979|10|8|df=y}}
|birth_place = Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, South Africa
{{Citation
|url =http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-09-17-sa-man-reaches-exalted-grandmaster-status
|title = SA man reaches exalted Grandmaster status
|year = 2012
|work = Daily Maverick|location=South Africa
|accessdate = 17 September 2012
}}
|title = Grandmaster (2015)
|rating =
|peakrating = 2461 (January 2012)
|FideID = 14300192
}}
Kenneth Terence Solomon{{cite web|url=http://www.dampl.co.za/2015/02/da-honours-kenny-solomon-as-south-africas-first-international-chess-grandmaster/|title=DA honours Kenny Solomon as South Africa's first International Chess Grandmaster|publisher=DA MPL Network|date=23 February 2015|accessdate=7 September 2015|archive-date=3 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803003122/https://www.dampl.co.za/2015/02/da-honours-kenny-solomon-as-south-africas-first-international-chess-grandmaster/|url-status=dead}} (born 8 October 1979) is a South African chess Grandmaster. He is the first and currently the only Grandmaster South Africa has ever produced.{{Cite web |date=2015-01-04 |title=South Africa's first Grandmaster |url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/south-africa-s-first-grandmaster |access-date=2022-11-09 |website=Chess News |language=en}}
Career
He took up chess at the age of 13, inspired by his elder brother's qualification for the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manila. Borrowing a chess book from his brother 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.{{Citation
| url = http://allafrica.com/stories/201209170659.html
| title = South Africa: Man Reaches Exalted Grandmaster Status
| year = 2012
| publisher = AllAfrica.com
| accessdate = 20 September 2012
Solomon 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 player in 2003. He became an International Master in 2004. During the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul Solomon earned his final GM norm.{{Cite web |date=2015-02-25 |title=How chess Grandmaster beat the odds |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/how-chess-grandmaster-beat-the-odds-1823550 |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=Independent Online}}
Although Solomon has never reached the rating 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 in December 2014. This achievement made him the first chess grandmaster from South Africa,{{Cite web|url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/south-africa-s-first-grandmaster|title=South Africa's first Grandmaster|publisher=ChessBase|author=Priyadarshan Banjan|date=4 January 2015|accessdate=8 September 2015}} the second grandmaster from sub-Saharian Africa after Amon Simutowe of Zambia,{{cite web|last=Smith|first=David|title=South African escapes township violence to become chess grandmaster|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/08/south-africa-township-violence-chess-grandmaster-kenny-solomon-mitchells-plain|work=The Guardian|accessdate=21 April 2016|date=2015-01-08}} and the first grandmaster of Coloured ethnicity.
He qualified for the 2017 Chess World Cup where he was defeated by Fabiano Caruana in the first round.
Acting
Solomon appeared in the 2015 short film A Great Day, directed by James Abinibi.{{Cite web |title=Abinibi's short film premieres in grand Style {{!}} Pulse Nigeria |url=https://www.pulse.ng/articles/lifestyle/events/a-great-day-abinibis-short-film-premieres-in-grand-style-2024080711483895797 |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=www.pulse.ng |language=en}}
See also
References
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090403135902/http://kennysolomon.co.za/ Kenny Solomon's website]}}
- {{Fide}}
- {{chessgames player|id=51154|name=Kenneth T Solomon}}
- [http://www.365chess.com/players/Kenny_Solomon Kenny Solomon] chess games at 365Chess.com
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Kenny}}
Category:South African chess players
Category:Chess Olympiad competitors
Category:Sportspeople from Cape Town
{{SouthAfrica-chess-bio-stub}}