Kenny Solomon

Kenneth Terence Solomon[2][3] (born 8 October 1979) is a South African chess grandmaster and FIDE Trainer (2005). He took up chess at the age of 13, inspired by his elder brother's qualification for the Chess Olympiad in Manila in 1992. Borrowing a chess book from him 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.[4][1]

Kenny Solomon
Kenny Solomon, 2019
Full nameKenneth Terence Solomon
Country South Africa
Born (1979-10-08) 8 October 1979
Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, South Africa[1]
TitleGrandmaster
FIDE rating2362 (July 2020)
Peak rating2461 (January 2012)

He has 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 in 2003. He became an International Master in 2004. During the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul Solomon earned his final GM norm.

Although Solomon has never reached the required rating of 2500, he earned the Grandmaster title by winning the African Chess Championship in December 2014, thereby becoming the first chess grandmaster from South Africa[5] and the second from sub-Saharian Africa after Amon Simutowe of Zambia.[6]

He qualified for the 2017 Chess World Cup where he was defeated by Fabiano Caruana in the first round.

See also

References
  1. SA man reaches exalted Grandmaster status, Daily Maverick, 2012, retrieved 17 September 2012
  2. "Kenny Solomon : South Africa`s first International Grandmaster". Moves for Life Blog. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  3. "DA honours Kenny Solomon as South Africa's first International Chess Grandmaster". DA MPL Network. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  4. South Africa: Man Reaches Exalted Grandmaster Status, AllAfrica.com, 2012, retrieved 20 September 2012
  5. Priyadarshan Banjan (4 January 2015). "South Africa's first Grandmaster". ChessBase. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  6. Smith, David (8 January 2015). "South African escapes township violence to become chess grandmaster". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2016.


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