By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
RED Arrows rising star Lorita Mwango won the Zimbabwe Open chess tournament with an imposing 7.5 points out of the possible eight, with the only blemish in her run to the title coming in a last round draw against fellow Zambian Kabamba Bwalya.
Mwango, a Copperbelt University (CBU) student, raced to seven wins from seven rounds and was already confirmed champion when she played Bwalya in the last round.
Finishing in second position was Zimbabwean Colletta Wakuruwarewa on 6.5 points and this after defeating Rhodha Masiyazi who was in second position going into the last round.
This meant that Masiyazi dropped into third position with six points together with Tatenda Zengeni, who jumped into joint third after winning her last round match against her better rated sister, Paidaishe.
Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Constance Mbatha finished on 5.5 points together with Termaine Chizikani.
She was happy that she defeated a tenacious Linda Shaba in the last round of the competition.
For drawing with champion Mwango, Bwalya got to five points and was with four other Zimbabweans in that position.
Upstart Milika Tembo and Phyllis Mwilola were the lowest ranked Zambians with 4.5 points and this came after they faced each other and drew their last round game.
In the men’s section, Zambia’s Godwin Phiri finished as joint winner with two other Zimbabweans on 6.5 points from a possible seven. Phiri shared the top slot with Elisha Thabo and Mugove Muririma.
Going into the final round, Phiri shared top slot with Thabo whom he was facing in the closing round with six straight wins with the game ending in a draw and this allowed Muririma to catch-up with the leaders after defeating Hamilton Mandeya.
International Master (IM) Kelvin Chumfwa and Douglas Munenga finished on six points with five other locals with Chumfwa only having one loss to Thabo, while Munenga’s only loss was to Chumfwa in the third round.
Kela Kaulule and Aaron Banda finished on 5.5 points with James Dimba having five points.