By RONALD CHAWE –
ZAMBIA’S Women Fide Master (WFM) Lorita Mwango recovered from a mid-tournament collapse to force a stalemate in her last round to pick up a bronze medal at the just-ended Africa Zone4.3 Individual chess championship in Maputo.
Mwango drew against South Africa’s Rebecca Selkirk in a final round to finish with six points and edge out Botswana’s OnkemetseFrancis, a WomenInternational Master (WIM) to the bronze.
Both Mwango and Francis finished on six points, 1.5 points off winner Megan Van Niekerk while WIM Jesse Nikki-February finished second on 6.5 points, to get silver.
The other Zambian ladies, Women Candidate Masters (WCMs) trio of Lubuuto Bwalya took sixth position after finishing with 5.5 points while Constance Mbatha and Linda Hamoonga ended with five points.
In the men’s section, Douglas Munenga settled for fourth position to fall out of the medal bracket.
Fide Master (FM) Munenga finished with six points from four wins and four draws and a defeat, at par with South Africa’s John Klaasen andBotswana’s FM Phemelo Khetto, who got silver and bronze medals onbetter tie-breaks with Angola’s Catarino Domingos winning gold after accumulating 6.5 points.
Munenga drew the last two games against South African’s Fide Master(FM) Charles De Villiers and International Master (FM) David Silva ofAngola. Other Zambians, Daniel Mulenga, KelaKaulule and CM Musatwe Simutowe,who are national team players, ended the tournament in 11th, 13th and 19th positions with five and 4.5 and four points respectively.