Malawi outsmarts Kenya at Chess Olympiad
The five-player national chess team beat Kenya 4-0 on Saturday to earn a second victory in five matches at the on-going World Chess Olympiad at the Istanbul Expo Centre in Turkey.
Joseph Nyambalo has proved to be an outstanding player in the Malawi team. He won three matches and drew two.
The Malawi team has South Africa-based Richard Mbedza as second best performer with two wins.
The Malawi squad, whose captain is Zengani Chenda Mkandawire, lost its first game 3.5-0.5 against Equador before losing by the same margin to the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (Ipca).
The Malawians also lost 3-1 to El Salvador in their fourth match, but they found solace in beating Maldives 2.5-1.5 and Kenya 4-0.
According to Chess Association of Malawi (Chessam) publicist Gilton Mkumbwa, each of the 158 teams at the event will play nine games before the winners are identified.
“We are proud of Malawi’s achievements so far, especially, the individual brilliance of Nyambalo who is now among the top 100 players at the event that has attracted over 1 000 players from around the world.
“The 19-year-old has either won or drawn in each of the five games Malawi has played. We expect him to earn a good rating at the end of the contest. Just imagine, he forced a draw against Ipca’s international master Yarmonv Ihor,†said Mkumbwa.
There are at least 124 women teams at the event, but Malawi only sent a men’s team due to financial constraints, according to Mkumbwa.
This is the fourth time Malawi is participating in the World Chess Olympiad after doing so in Italy (2006), Germany (2008) and Russia (2010).
The 40th World Chess Olympiad in Turkey started on August 28 after a ceremonial first move by the Turkish minister of youth and sports Suat Kilic for Chinese grandmaster Zhao Xue as China played against Bangladesh.
World chess governing body’s (Fide) president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Turkish Chess Federation president Ali Nihat Yazici were also present.
