Chess instructor Makhosi Nyirenda says four local players gained valuable experience when they competed in the Mdina Lusaka Open Championship in Zambia, which ended on Monday.
Malawi’s second highest rated player Candidate Master (CM) Chiletso Chipanga, Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Ellen Mpinganjira, national championship runner-up Precious Kamwendo and third-placed Peter Nyama represented the country during the four-day championship.
All four players failed to make it into the top three.
In the open section, Kamwendo finished on position 14 out of 137 participants with six points while Nyama collected the same number of points and ended on position 25.
Chipanga got five points to finish on position 37.
In the ladies’ section, Mpinganjira got five points and ended on position nine out of 26 contestants.
However, Makhosi said the quartet should have done better if they had kept their cool towards the closing stages of the competition.
“We were almost there. We hit them hard but we just lost touch in the last two or three rounds. We would have won the trophy. They were shaken when Chiletso won against FM [Fide Master] Nase Lungu but we could not maintain the momentum,” he said.
Makhosi said the championship attracted 205 players including 42 who featured in the developmental section.
At the end of the gruelling contest, Fide Master-elect Geoffrey Luanja from Zambia and Zimbabwe’s Christine Makwena were crowned 2023 Mdina Lusaka Chess champions.
Luanja won the open championship with 7.5 points out of nine rounds and a rating performance of 2200.
International Master Gillian Bwalya ended on second position while FM Douglas Munenga finished third.
Makwena went to Zambia from Zimbabwe and conquered, with seven points out of nine rounds and a performance rating of 1805.
Maria Banda finished second while WCM Lubuuto Bwalya Mulwale occupied third slot.
South Africa-based Malawian entrepreneur Tiwone Mdina supported the Mdina Lusaka Open with over K4 million in appreciation of support Zambians gave to the defunct local championship that was last held in 2019.
The Mdina Open Chess Championship was a trademark Malawi tournament that started in 2010. From 2015 it was hosted as an international tournament before bowing out in 2019.
Mdina decided to sponsor this tournament as a ‘thank you’ to the Zambians who used to patronise the Mdina Malawi tournament.
