Dante Beukes: The king of Namibian chess
Highest-rated player at just 21
Namibia's first International Master shares his plans to return home and empower young Namibian chess players.
Dante Beukes made his first moves at the age of seven, but didn’t really start playing chess seriously until he was nine. He joined a chess club and started competing in local tournaments where he quickly found success. During his time as a junior chess player, he spent multiple hours every week learning new openings and sharpening his skills. This all led to him winning the African Youth Chess Championship in 2019 and receiving the International Master (IM) title – the second highest title in chess after Grandmaster (GM). This makes Beukes Namibia’s first IM as well as Namibia’s highest-rated player with a rating of 2 204 at the age of 21.
Navigating the Namibian chess scene as the highest-rated player at such a young age is not an easy task. Beukes shares: “It is difficult since everyone wants to beat you and you have to constantly prove that you deserve to be called the best player in Namibia”.
“There is a lot of pressure on me. I put a lot of pressure on myself to always perform my best," he added.
"Additionally, playing rated tournaments where you are the highest-rated player is quite perilous as a single loss can cost you many precious rating points while wins barely benefit you at all."
For this reason, Beukes is currently studying in Texas where he more readily has access to rated tournaments.
Of course, studying abroad has challenges as well. In 2021, he started university in the United States of America on a full chess scholarship and had troubles acclimating to the new scene. The culture shock and adjustments necessary led to major burnout.
“I was not playing well – my attitude was bad and my results suffered," he narrated.
After taking a break from chess, he returned to achieve some of his best results yet.
Promoting chess in Namibia
After his studies, Beukes intends to return to Namibia to improve the chess scene at home. He wishes to foster a competitive chess atmosphere and cultivate talented players capable of competitively representing the country at global tournaments, while his personal goal is still to become a GM.
To pursue the GM title, he will need to gain about 300 more rating points and perform well in multiple tournaments against other GMs. Beukes mentioned that he has moved this goal aside for the moment to focus on coaching and learning how he can enhance chess in Namibia.
Taking a moment to reflect on his life as a chess player, he said: “My parents are integral to all I have achieved".
According to him, not only did they sacrifice a lot financially, but also in terms of their time to help him get to where he is today.
He shared that his fondest chess memory is when he tied for first place at the 2022 South African Open in Cape Town soon after he returned from his break. “Maybe it was because it was in a lovely city or perhaps it was just the prestige of the tournament,” he explained.
As a chess player, he has been able to visit multiple countries and seen various beautiful places. “There are so many opportunities in chess. Of course they won’t just fall in your lap – you must work hard to take them,” Beukes said. He further advised young Namibian chess players to keep playing the game they love.