LOCAL CHESS PLAYERS STUNNED
Local junior chess players who formed part of the Africa team which competed in the 2020 Intercontinental Online Championships had a tournament to forget after failing to win a single match. As if that was not enough, Team Africa also performed badly after finishing on fourth position with 12 cumulative points behind Asia, Europe and America which settled for gold, silver and bronze positions respectively.
Botswana had representatives in WFM: Besa Masaiti, Ruth Otisitswe, Darius Banda all playing in Under 18,16 and 12 boys and girls categories respectively. WFM Naledi Marape and Ofile Masilo formed parted of the reserve team though they were never called to action on the one day tournament. Though the tournament was the first of its kind, Team Africa got in the event with better rating superiority with only Europe and Asia eclipsing them. However, when teams were called for action, minnows (based on their player ratings), America, surprised many as they beat Africa to the third spot on the final rankings.
According to WFM Masaiti, the tournament was very competitive and that’s why the results came the way they are.
“The overall rating of the tournament was high and it was quite difficult to an extent that I didn’t get to win any games for the first time in my career. It was a rapid tournament; I played three players with the highest rating of 2200 and the lowest being 1500,”
“Speaking for team Africa, our opponents were quite strong and we had some complications with some players not appearing insome matches due to technical difficulties.
But I believe this has highlighted weaknesses in our training strategies as compared to our counterparts from other continents. To say the least, we are capable of beating our opponents but our experience and some training and coaching strategies were missing,” said 17 year old, Masaiti.
For his part, Banda who competed in the boys Under 12 is of the belief that they needed more time to prepare for the tournament. He further alluded that even the five minutes breaks in between rounds was not enough to give players some rest before games resumed. “The tournament was hard because I did not get the results I wanted but there were games, I should have won but missed that by a whisker. Mind you, we were told about the tournament with five days to go so one can’t complain more so that there are positives and negatives noted here and there. The good side of it is that I managed to represent my continent at the highest level and from that I will be able to have a training session with Judith Polgar, who is the strongest woman Grandmaster in the world,” said Banda.Meanwhile, Dabulani Buthali has been appointed to the investigative arm of the FIDE Ethics Committee. Buthali joins the likes of Motlhokomedi Tlhabano, Dr Marape Marape who are serving in the FIDE Chess in Education and Medical Commission respectively. WIM Tshepiso Lopang is a councilor in the Planning & Development Commission as well as Vice President of Africa Chess Confederation.