By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
ZAMBIA chess star Richmond Phiri has been knocked out of the ongoing the World Chess Cup playing in Baku, Azerbaijan at the first attempt after losing both legs of the first round to United States of America (USA) grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura.
In a knock-out tournament bringing together all the world’s best players, Phiri always had a tough first round when he was paired with Nakamura who is a highly rated player.
It was no surprise when the Zambian representative to the world Chess Olympiads in Tromso last year, was checkmated in both games where he first played black and then white.
This loss for the Zambia means he joins a horde of Africans who have failed to get to the round of 32.
Just like at the 2013 edition, where Zambia’s representative Gilan Bwalya was paired then against then World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, International Master (IM), Phiri was this year given world number two, Nakamura.
From that pairing, the result was always going to head one way as Nakamura defeated world number 127, Phiri.
Nakamura will now face fellow American Samuel Shankland who took a 1.5-0.5 victory over Russian grandmaster, Ivan Popov, who is the European Individual champion and former world under-18 champion.
There was however something to smile about as Egyptian grandmaster, Amin Bassem became the first African to make it past the first round after he defeated Ivan Sari, a Croatian Grand Master 2-0.
Bassem is the youngest of the four Egyptian Grandmasters and got his first grandmaster norm after winning the Africa junior chess championship in Lusaka.