2018 Chess Olympiad qualifiers December

Chess Association of Malawi (Chessam) will conduct Chess Olympiad qualifiers in December, to identify representatives for the tournament set for Batumi in Georgia next year.

Chessam president Kezzie Msukwa said top 10 players will make the sqaud after the qualifiers which will start at regional level.

The tournament is held every two years and in the last edition in Russia, Malawi did not do well.

However, the participation helped the country to improve at the global ranking from 131 to 128.

Msukwa said they are targeting the 2018 edition to secure titles.

“We are taking this year’s competition seriously. Our focus is to produce a grand-master (GM),” he said.

Meanwhile, Northern Region Chess League (NRCL) has lined up a number of tournaments in preparation for the qualifiers.

“We are not relaxing. We have lined up a number of tournaments, starting from next week,” said NRCL chairperson Stanley Mtuwa, adding that the region has received a boost of 11 chess boards from Mdina Business Solution.

“This is a big motivation to us,” said Mtuwa. n