Women on song at Chess Olympiad
Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Friday October 5, 2018 14:04
Ahead of the 10th round, highly-rated Botswana player Woman International Master, Dr Francis Onkemetse is sitting pretty with an impressive six points from nine games, a 68% performance rating.
Francis did well in seven games only losing two in the tournament thus far.
Another Botswana Woman International Master, Kgalalelo Botlhole has fair results of 55% performance rating after scoring five points in nine games, Debutant Ndachipiwa Kgomotso managed 1.5 points from eight games, while WFM Besa Masaiti, also making her Olympiad debut, needs just half a point to hit the 50% mark.
After a shaky start in the opening round, the Botswana women were soon on the ascendancy as a string of good performances saw them beat Ivory Coast 3-1, collected 1.5 points from Chinese Taipei, and two points in the 2-2 draw with Monaco, as well as a convincing 3-1 victory over Kosovo, before their impressive four-game winning streak was halted by South Korea, which surprisingly had no rated player in their team. Once again, the Botswana women recovered from the South Korea disappointment to take 1.5 points from the more fancied Ireland, before raking all the four points from Malawi, which was followed by two points salvaged from Uganda. Botswana was scheduled to play 105th ranked Trinidad & Tobago yesterday in round 10, with hopes of an improved team ranking and individual performances high against the lowly- ranked round 10 opponents. In the Open section, the men’s team is currently ranked 102, an improvement from their poor 116th ranking, a demonstration of some steady improvement in the team’s performance.
FM Phemelo Khetho has only lost twice in the eight games he has played thus far, and Barileng Gaealafshwe has collected four points from eight games, a 50% personal rating performance.
Thabo Gumpo’s performance rating is also at 55% after notching 3.5 points from a possible six.
Botswana’s highly-rated player, IM Providence Oatlhotse is not experiencing the best of luck at the Olympiad on Board 1, where he has already played and lost against three Grand Masters from Slovenia, Slovakia, and the Faroe Islands.
After a sloppy start against Slovenia, the men’s team recovered to wallop Senegal 4-0, as well as getting two points from Nigeria in Round 3, after another performance to forget against Slovakia in Round 3.
The men’s team would later take 1.5 points from Afghanistan and Morocco, and another 1.5 points from the Faroe Islands and Malaysia, before taking all four points from Malta.
They were due to play Elsavador in Round 10 yesterday.