Junior Chess Team chases African glory
Botswana Junior national chess team will once again prove their mettle against the rest of the African continent when they compete in the FIDE Online World Cadets Youth (under 10-18) Rapid Chess Championship.
The event, which is divided into two stages will commence with the continental showpiece from the 28th of November until the 1st December 2020. The continental event will subsequently be followed by the world event which is scheduled for the 19th-23rd of December. The continental tourney will be a selection stage in which top three players from each age category will go and represent Africa and their nations at the finale or world event.
FIDE has already invited the likes of
WFMs Besa Masaiti, Naledi Marape, WCM Refilwe Gabatshwarwe, WCM Natalie Banda, Ruth Otisitswe and Thuto Mpene to partake in the tournament at continental level. The players received the special FIDE invitation based on their rankings since they appear on top ten in their respective age categories in Africa. However, to beef up the squad, Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) selected Desire Machinya, Botlhe Lekang, Musa Munyere, Phoebe Benjamin, WCM Laone Moshoboro and Clyde Molosiwa to complete the team. The team is under the tutelage of Ivon Makabe and the training camp is set for the 26th of November to start preparations.
“We are expecting the experience of WFMs Masaiti, Marape, WCM Banda, WCM Gabatshwarwe and Otisitswe to work for the team because they have already competed in high profile online events such as online Zone 4.5 and 2020 Online Olympiad,” said BCF Development Director, Michael Mbaiwa.
With BCF having a very packed calendar in terms of local events in the next four weeks, it remains to be seen how the junior players will cope with the intensity of the two international events as well as local competitions. Upcoming is the Debswana Chess League finale, Botash Open and Botswana Junior Open over three consecutive weeks. The main concern is how the players are going to divide time in order to play in all these events since the assumption is that they don’t want to miss any competition.
“As for now the league will be on the 28th-29th of November and the league’s committee has decided that league games will continue despite some players involved in both activities. This is because there won’t be any other free weekend to slot the league, teams will field other players for the league, as for the upcoming youth tournament, schools will be closed so all the youth players will be free so it will be a midweek event,” Mbaiwa explained.
In the past three years the junior chess team has dominated events such as African Junior Chess Championships, African Youth Chess Championships, Zone 4.5 Under 16 Team Championships, Africa Schools Individual Championships and World Schools Individual Chess Championships, the only tournament where they failed to bring any medal home.
“From the 12 players we want at least six players to qualify for the World event which will follow in December,” he said.