Kabelo shoots ahead in chess qualifiers

KENNETH BOIKHUTSWANE
Correspondent | Friday May 23, 2008 00:00

The Kings Chess Club captain bagged four points from five games, winning three and drawing two. Young Bojosi Sabure also had a good start, scoring 3.5/5 points. Tebogo Pitlagano also finished with 3.5/5 points, two of them coming from byes. The Chess Olympiad of this year is to be played in the city of Dresden in Germany on November 12-24.

Initially billed to be a 10-player double round robin event, the field was reduced to eight players after Olebogeng Hosiah and Dumisani Mfanenyama failed to pitch up. The organisers were also in the dark about their whereabouts but confirmed that they had communicated details of the tournament to all participants. The absence of the two players did not dampen the spirit of the tournament and some interesting games were played. A game that comes to mind is the clash between Kabelo and the sacrificial Baone Kealeboga. Kealeboga, who time after time has managed to swindle his opponents in messy positions, was in this instance himself swindled. He lost his queen and thereafter the result was never really in doubt until Kabelo shocked many by playing for the gallery.

In a space of three moves, Kabelo's position changed from being queen up to being piece down after he initiated a dubious combination. He however managed to recover and bag home the point. Another interesting game saw Kealeboga outwit Pitlagano in an opposite coloured bishop position, the two sides having lone rooks and two pawns. In this notoriously drawish endgame, Kealeboga outwitted his opponent to win the game. Even more impressive about the win was that it was executed with Kealeboga under severe time pressure, having two minutes to his opponent's 40.

With the games now on break until two weeks later, many are of the belief that it is still open to all participants to win. The next round should determine the exact placing of all participants, as some of the scores indicated include byes. Botswana Chess Federation has decided that the both Hosiah and Mfanenyama would be taken out of the tournament, and all players who recorded wins over them through byes would lose the points. Hard hit in this instance will be Pitlagano, who is set to lose two points gained from the two. Kabelo is also set to lose a point he gained from Hosiah in the first round.

The top four finishers in this tournament will join national champion Providence Oatlhotse, FIDE Master Phemelo Khetho and Ignatius Njobvu as part of the national team. Two players will later be dropped as the team is trimmed to five players in line with the latest rules of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). In past Olympiads an open team was made of six players, with the women's team comprising four. However, FIDE has since moved that both teams should consist of five players.