MR PEsa autobiography
By: Lizo Sikwati
05 December 2019
05 December 2019
There are many stories of great men and great women. Men and women with great successes as well as those that have accumulated many accolades. I have realized that these stories and records are not foreign to us because they also reside in our delightful Province.
Out of all these great successes, what of the challenges that great men and women face?
Martin Luther king wrote, “The Ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”. Although many have been subject to challenges in their lives, today, we would like to honour a man who has contributed to the quality and development of the chess in the Northern Cape. Mr Alfred Mofoka Pesa has not only made the province proud but the country as a whole.
Mr Alfred Mofoka Pesa was born on the 5th of May 1967, in the wonderful city of Kimberley where he was first introduced to chess. His brother was his first influencer in his early stages of development. As time went by, he developed a deeper love for the game thus he started putting time and effort into studying the game of chess.
As iron sharpens iron, Mr Pesa had to bump heads with stronger players in his road to becoming an established player. Despite being born in Kimberley, he spent most of his youth in Welkom and Sasolburg where he met the elite Free State players at the time. He credits Mr April Mokoena who was the top Free State player at the time for helping him advance his development as a player. With Mr Mokoen’s input he was able to become the top player in the province.
At the age of 35, during his regular visits to Kimberley, Mr Pesa perceived that he was quite far ahead of his peers with regards to his chess mastery. He then selflessly started organizing trips to other parts of the country to enable players from Kimberley to get exposure and gain experience. During course of the tours, players started to become more inspired and serious about chess and since then, the competition between players in the province became more challenging.
After a few years Mr Pesa moved back to Kimberley and became fully affiliated with the Northern Cape. At this stage he put his time into developing the game of chess in the province. With all the experience he gained from his travels and studies, he saw the need within the province and he fulfilled it in the best he could. When asked how he would like to impact the chess world, He said, “My wish is to see Africans working together and becoming better players then we can challenge the world out there”.
The driving force behind this ambition is that most players in the country and in Africa are struggling to make a living out of chess. Due to this deficiency, his ambition of seeing players being able to make a living from the game they love still drives him to keep on giving to the chess community. Thus, he became NC chess president; not because of the prestige the position holds but to better the lives of chess players all over the country.
With long journeys, valuable lessons are learnt on the way and on Mr Pesa's chess journey he has learnt that chess is life. This was as a result of the principles and skills he had learnt in chess which can also be used in his life. He says, " As you become a better player it also makes you a better person".
In conclusion, Theodore Roosevelt wrote, "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Mr Alfred Mofoka Pesa has been the man in the arena on and off the chess board and has inspired many, not only to be exceptional at chess but to live exceptional lives. We are forever grateful to him.
Out of all these great successes, what of the challenges that great men and women face?
Martin Luther king wrote, “The Ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”. Although many have been subject to challenges in their lives, today, we would like to honour a man who has contributed to the quality and development of the chess in the Northern Cape. Mr Alfred Mofoka Pesa has not only made the province proud but the country as a whole.
Mr Alfred Mofoka Pesa was born on the 5th of May 1967, in the wonderful city of Kimberley where he was first introduced to chess. His brother was his first influencer in his early stages of development. As time went by, he developed a deeper love for the game thus he started putting time and effort into studying the game of chess.
As iron sharpens iron, Mr Pesa had to bump heads with stronger players in his road to becoming an established player. Despite being born in Kimberley, he spent most of his youth in Welkom and Sasolburg where he met the elite Free State players at the time. He credits Mr April Mokoena who was the top Free State player at the time for helping him advance his development as a player. With Mr Mokoen’s input he was able to become the top player in the province.
At the age of 35, during his regular visits to Kimberley, Mr Pesa perceived that he was quite far ahead of his peers with regards to his chess mastery. He then selflessly started organizing trips to other parts of the country to enable players from Kimberley to get exposure and gain experience. During course of the tours, players started to become more inspired and serious about chess and since then, the competition between players in the province became more challenging.
After a few years Mr Pesa moved back to Kimberley and became fully affiliated with the Northern Cape. At this stage he put his time into developing the game of chess in the province. With all the experience he gained from his travels and studies, he saw the need within the province and he fulfilled it in the best he could. When asked how he would like to impact the chess world, He said, “My wish is to see Africans working together and becoming better players then we can challenge the world out there”.
The driving force behind this ambition is that most players in the country and in Africa are struggling to make a living out of chess. Due to this deficiency, his ambition of seeing players being able to make a living from the game they love still drives him to keep on giving to the chess community. Thus, he became NC chess president; not because of the prestige the position holds but to better the lives of chess players all over the country.
With long journeys, valuable lessons are learnt on the way and on Mr Pesa's chess journey he has learnt that chess is life. This was as a result of the principles and skills he had learnt in chess which can also be used in his life. He says, " As you become a better player it also makes you a better person".
In conclusion, Theodore Roosevelt wrote, "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Mr Alfred Mofoka Pesa has been the man in the arena on and off the chess board and has inspired many, not only to be exceptional at chess but to live exceptional lives. We are forever grateful to him.
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