GUMPO 5th at Africa junior chess tourney

* FM Botlhole 8th in the Girls' section
e of Botswana's brightest chess players, Thabo Gumpo finished the Africa Junior Chess Championships in fifth position, as Angola, Algeria and Libyan players perched at the top of the rankings after nine rounds of play in South Africa last week.

Angolan Roberto Erikson, with a FIDE rating of 2223 points, finished the tournament with seven points, edging out his nearest challenger Mahfoud Oussedik (2222 Fide points) of Algeria by just half a point, as he finished second with 6.5 points. He is joint on 6.5 points with Libyan Mosab Ghattour (2078 Fide points). SADC region's best finish at the tournament held in South Africa came from the hosts' Benjamin Hercules (2085 Fide rating), on six points, while Botswana player, Gumpo, was tied on five points, with South African, Janto Louw (1655), and Zambian, Douglas Munenga, in a tournament where 14 players competed. Another Botswana player who competed in the boys' section, David Mooketsi, (1819  points) finished 11th, with four points, while Malawian player, Joseph Nyambalo, with an impressive rating of 2100, finished last on position 14, having lost all his nine games.

Mooketsi won two games, and drew two others, while another point came from a bye.  The youngster opened the tournament well with victory over an Angolan opponent, Dias Vanderson, but that was followed by two successive defeats to South Africa's Louw, and James Michael, before benefiting from a bye. Mooketsi would then snatch half a point from Angola's Campos Rui, before losing to homeboy, Gumpo in the sixth round. He also shared the spoils with Angolan Silvio Famorosa to lie 11th at the end of nine rounds. Gumpo meantime opened the tournament with half a point gained from Algerian Oussedik, who eventually finished second in the tournament.

Editor's Comment
Micro-procurement maze demands urgent reform

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