By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
CHESS Master (CM), Kelvin Chumfwa missed on being crowned International Master (IM) after losing his match against Ward Al Tarbosh at the on-going World Chess Olympiads in Norway.
But his consolation was that his Zambian team got back to winning ways after beating Syria 2.5-1.5 in round nine after recording an embarrassing 4-0 thumping to Columbia in the previous round.
Fortunes exchanged hands again as this time around, it was the men that tasted victory as the women team suffered a 3-1 defeat to El Salvador.
In the men’s event, Zambia got their points from a Chitumbo Mwali win over Hasan Omrani on Board Two and another from by Richmond Phiri over Khaled Akhras on Board three.
With Kelvin losing his game, the last match between Stanley Chumfwa against fellow IM Basher Iyti became a tense affair but the Zambian got the draw which was enough to move Zambia to 10 points from a possible 18 points.
Next up for the men was the tough task of beating Ireland with Stanley playing Grand Master (GM) Alexander Baburin while Daniel Jere was set to play IM Sam Collins with Mwali meeting Mark Heindenfeld and Phiri was up against Colm Daly.
Women team captain and Fide Master (FM) Lorita Mwango continued with her impressive run by once again beating a higher rated player in IM Lorena Zepeda on Board-One.
But it was free fall for other Zambians on the other boards starting with Constance Mbatha, who was so instrumental in the previous round’s win, losing to Ingrid Sanchez with Linda Hamoonga falling prey to Gabriela Avelar as Yvonne Saina was beaten to unrated opponent Alcira Garcia.
In the next game, Zambia was pitted to play Thailand in an evenly poised game with Mwango facing Chanida Taweesupmum while Mbatha took on Worasuda Atthaworajed with Hamooonga meeting Chitaporn Prateungsukpong and Saina playing Chananchida Vongvastana.
Meanwhile, chess legend Garry Kasparov lost his bid to unseat the Kremlin Ilyumzhinov-backed president of the World Chess Federation who has led the game’s governing body for nearly two decades.
The incumbent, Ilyumzhinov, defeated Kasparov by 100 votes to 61 in the August 11 election for the presidency of the federation in the Norwegian city of Tromso.