Chiona, Mpinganjira to lead Malawi’s Zone 4.3 squad
The three-day final qualifiers for Zone 4.3 Chess Championships concluded on Monday at Country Club Limbe (CCL) with Richard Chiona and Ellen Mpinganjira winning the open and women’s categories respectively.
With 7.5 points from a possible nine, Chiona topped the 26-player section and will lead Misheck Nyirenda, George Mwale, Davie Mawango, Lumbani Banda and Alfred Chimthere to the Zone 4.3 event Malawi is expected to host next month.
Nyirenda took the second-place after he summed-up his fixtures with 6.5 points while Mwale, Mawango, Banda and Chimthere settled for third, fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively with six points each.
Apart from making it to the international contest, the top-five players were also replenished with K25 000 (US$56), K20 000 (US$44), K15 000 (US$33), K10 000 (US$22) and K5 000 (US$11) prizes, in that order. Mpinganjira reigned supreme in the women’s section after accumulating eight points, just as runner-up Linda Jambo but they were separated by a bucholz tie-breaking system.
The two will represent Malawi in the category along with third-placed Daisy Nkhoma (6.5 points), fourth-positioned Margaret Ngugama (5.5), fifth-placed TupokiweMsukwa (5) and sixth positioned Lucy Chazemba (4.5).
However, the qualifiers had big casualties in candidate master ChiletsoChipanga, RumbaniMkamanga and Kajani Kaunda who finished on positions eight, nine and 17 with 5.5, five and fourpoints, respectively.
The three will miss the international competition alongside other big names such as Joseph Mwale, Joseph Nyambalo and Vitumbiko Gondwe who were suspended for boycotting the 2014 Africa Chess Championships in Namibia. Fide master Gerald Mphungu and Petros Mfune will also not make it as they failed to turn up for the qualifiers.
