Motswana seizes lead at African chess champs

Calistus Kolantsho | Thursday August 6, 2015 10:10

After round three, Mosutha is leading the section with a perfect score of 4/5. The Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) spokesperson, Keenese Katisenge told Mmegi Sport yesterday the 22 year old player started on a high, winning all his three games against Jose Monane of Mozambique in round one, Joao Amaral of Angola in round two and went on to beat another Mozambican, Botao Milton.

Another player who is representing the country in the Women’s Section, Bokamoso Simon has picked a score of 2/5.

Katisenge said Simon also started the competition well, winning round one against Gafar Izdine of Mozambique, registering two draws in the second and third rounds against Milton and Tivane Oluwashina both from the host country.

The competition is open to all players representing African chess federations, which are affiliated to the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The federations must also be affiliated to the African Chess Confederation (FIDE Zones 4.1 to 4.4).

Katisenge said the players from these federations must have had a published FIDE rating below 2,000 for at least two years as at January 2015 for them to qualify. She said the players must have no FIDE title above Candidate Master (CM) or Woman Candidate Master (WCM).

The event is a World Chess Federation and African Chess Confederation initiative whose aim is to give promising African players with no titles an opportunity to qualify for world events in order to attain ratings and titles in the end.

The event has attracted 14 players from Botswana, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho and Togo.

She added that the players taking the first three places in the Open Section will qualify to participate at the 2016 World Amateur Chess Championships to be held later this year.