By RONALD CHAWE –
ZAMBIA’s chess star Chitumbo Mwali was yesterday among the 24 players sharing the top slot at the ongoing 2017 South Africa Open chess tournament taking place at the Glenwood High in Durban, South Africa.
Mwali, an International Master (IM), who is chasing a Grandmaster (GM) norm, is among the four Zambians at the open section of the championship that has attracted 126 players from seven countries including India who are fielding a GM in Sahaj Grover.
After two rounds of the tournament, Mwale was sharing the top position with players with a perfect score so far and looking to extend his run with a third round win over Mozambiquean Candidate Master (CM) Persson Abrantes, who was also on two points.
Mwali started his journey at the Durban tournament with a beating of Bongani Mgaga of South Africa before he followed that up with a win over Andrew Southey of the same country in the second round.
Enjoying the top position from the crowded leaderboard is Indian Grover also on two points but with the Swiss System pairing up the leaders against each other, the men will begin to be separated from the boys in this 11-round tournament.
Closely following the leading 24 is another set of 11 players that includes Zambia’s IM Daniel Jere on 1.5 points after the opening two rounds of the tournament.
Jere, a former Zambian Sportsman-of-the-year, stumbled by drawing in his first game of the tournament against South African Ahmed Essa Naseem but restored his pride by check mating Joel Phahlane to move to 1.5 points.
He in the third round plays yet another South African in Kevin Jacobs who is also on 1.5 points as he looks to climb up the ladder.
Two other Zambians are in the draw and these are former sportswoman of the year Epah Tembo and Josef Ambali who are both on one point after two rounds of the competition.
Epah started her campaign with the beating of Nathanael Fibiger but was defeated by the renowned South African Watu Kobese in the second round, a result that thrust her down the leaderboard.
She will be hoping to resurrect her fortunes with a win in the third round where she plays Eleazar Nhamuave, who is rated better than the former Zambian chess queen.
Ambali is the fourth Zambian at the games and after starting with a loss to Jannie Saffier got a win against Cyril Danisa to move to one points and in the third round was paired against Mfundo Masiya, who was on 1.5 points.