Gaealafshwe upsets Oatlhotse to take crown

Gaealafshwe
Gaealafshwe

Candidate Master, Barileng Gaealafshwe has ended his six-year drought after winning the 2016 Metropolitan national chess championships held during Easter holidays at Oasis Motel in Tlokweng.

Gaealafshwe, who plays for Jwaneng club, last won the title in 2010. He had suffered defeat to International Master, Providence Oatlhotse during the second qualifiers but reversed the trend over the long weekend to grab the crown. He won the title with 6.5 points out of a possible nine after he defeated among others Oatlhotse and FIDE Master, Thato Olebile. Oatlhotse and Olebile were overwhelming favourites, but fell short. Gaealafshwe told Mmegi Sport yesterday that he had to be calm and remain focused to win the title. He said after failing to qualify for the finals last year, he had to work hard to redeem himself this year. He said after losing to Oatlhotse in the qualifiers, he studied the moves that his opponent made.

“The win is important to me and my hardwork has paid off. I was motivated to pull it off. I wanted to prove that I am still a good player,” he said.

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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