RIP Nelson Mandela: Of Chess Set Mandela gave Queen Elizabeth!

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

We are reminded of two Chess Blog posts from the archives as we pay tribute to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999












Chess Set from Africa

Chess Blog picked this from The New York Times: During a state visit to Britain, in 2010, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa went to Buckingham Palace, where there was an exhibition of items from his country. During the tour, Queen Elizabeth II showed President Zuma a chess set that Nelson Mandela gave her in 1996. The pieces appear to be African tribesman.

Zuma and Mandela chess solace in prison
This Chess Blog post we picked up when South African President Jacob Zuma, earlier this year, praised Indian chess player Abhijit Gupta for winning the Commonwealth Championships in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Zuma, said in his speech, he had learned to play chess while imprisoned on Robben Island along with Nelson Mandela.

“Chess provided a solace to us that we needed in those conditions of isolation and deprivation. It propelled our minds beyond the confines of the prison walls and allowed us to reflect and to position our thoughts strategically to fight the (apartheid) regime,” Zuma said as he explained how prisoners had made chess sets out of soap and driftwood.

RIP Nelson Mandela - the one and only there ever was.

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