Chessam discusses Chipanga’s seeding

Chess Association of Malawi (Chessam) has said they are discussing whether defending champion Chiletso Chipanga should be seeded for the finals of the Mdina Open Chess Championships. The event takes place from  Friday to Sunday at Hotel Victoria in Blantyre.

Candidate master Chipanga did not participate in the qualifiers for this year’s event and is not among the two players that have been seeded for the three-day contest. The seeded players are National champion Joseph Mwale and Presidential titleholder Gerald Mphungu.

“We are meeting today (Tuesday) to see if it is proper to consider him as a seeded player despite that such arrangement was not there in the previous two years,” said Chessam publicist Gilton Mkumbwa.

Two top-rated Zambian players have been roped in as guest participants and will contest for the title alongside Mwale, Mphungu and 14 individuals that excelled during regional qualifiers.

The qualified individuals are Alfred Chimthere, Stanley Kafere, Steve Khota, Bright Nthara, Precious Kamwendo and Francis Banda from the South; Davie Mawango, Petros Mfune, Hubert Nanthambwe and Stanford Chibambo from the Centre; and Kondwani Kanyenda, Innocent Salanjira, Moses Mtumbuka and Fiskani Mwagomba from the North.

The winner of the contest, which has been recognised as a player rating event by the world chess mother body Fide, will get K100 000.n