Botswana chess stars shine in Egypt

MOSAH MOKGANEDI
Staff Writer | Thursday May 30, 2013 00:00

 

The two won five out of nine matches, thus attaining a 56 percent performance score.The tournament that had some highly rated players ran from May 17-28.Botswana had sent three players that included Fide Master (FD) Ignatious Njobvu, who finished in the 16th position in the Open section after four wins out of nine matches.His notable achievements in the competition were beating one of the highest ranked players in Africa, Belkhodja Slim of Tunisia and drawing against Algeria's Grandmaster Haddouch Mohamed.

Botswana joined South Africa, Algeria and the host nation Tunisia in the competition. A total of 16 players were fielded in the women section while the open section had 28 players.Modongo finished in seventh position while Lopang attained position nine, both winning five out of nine matches.Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) ratings and technical director Vincent Masole and former president Tshepo Sitale, who had travelled for the congress that ran alongside the tournament, joined the team. Sitale is the current African Zone 4.3 Chess president.

According to BCF spokesperson Keenese Katisenge, the team did well considering that the country did not send a team to the 2011 tournament.Meanwhile, Njobvu alongside International Master Providence Oatlhotse will take part in the DSK Grandmaster Norm to be hosted in Cape Town, South Africa.The two players have received special invites to the tournament due to their high titles and ratings.