Three earn chess titles at Olympiad
T
hree Malawi national chess team players earned titles at the just-ended 44th World Chess Olyympiad in Chennai, India.
Candidate Master (CM) Alfred Chimthere has been promoted to Fide Master (FM) status while Stanford Chiwambo and Martha Kapalamula have earned CM and WCM titles.
Chimthere joins Joseph Mwale, Chiletso Chipanga and Gerald Mphungu who earned the FM status in previous editions.
He earned the title after he drew against Zambia’s highly-rated player Timothy Kabwe (2248) in round 10.
He needed a minimum score of 6 points in nine games to earn the title and he did just that after sharing the spoils with Kabwe on board four.
In an interview, the Malawi Police Service officer dedicated the new title to his boss Inspector General (IG) Merlyne Yolamu and police commissioners whom he said have been encouraging him to represent the nation and the service well.
“I have been getting encouraging text messages from the IG and commissioners and I wanted to thank them by getting a title for my country,” said Chimthere.
Meanwhile, Malawi ladies chess team won their last two rounds against Liberia 2.5-1.5 and Cameroon4-0 in round 10.
This means that the ladies team won four, drew twice and lost five.
On the other hand, the men’s team finished on a good note after thrashing Ghana 4-0.
Prior to that, they lost 2.5-1.5 to Zambia in round 10 of the Open Section.
This means overall, the men’s team won five and lost six.
This was one of the best performances by Malawi at the global chess showpiece.
The competition concluded yesterday. with the final 11th round scheduled for the morning hours before the official closing ceremony in the evening.
