38 CHESS PUNDITS FOR SWAZI OPEN

MBABANE – It will be a battle of the smartest minds as chess pundits square up in the opening games of the Swazi Chess Open.

The annual tournament has attracted 38 chess players which kicks-off tomorrow at St Juliana Centre in Manzini.The tournament will run until Sunday. The tournament will also, see international players partaking for the E6 000 first prize in the Open Section.

There are 32 players who have confirmed their registration  in this section, while six has joined in the development section where the winner stands to win E1 500. Some of the players are from countries such as Zambia,Mozambique,South Africa and Lesotho just to mention a few.

Some familiar names in this category are highly rated (2193) Mozambique based chess player, Alice Mateus won the recent Phela Live Chess Challenge which was held in Ezulwini in May. Zambian, and Simutowe Musatwe was runners-up in the Phela-Live sponsored tournament. Swaziland’s very own pride Fungai Mutahwa (1736), Smilo Hlophe (1624) and Wandile Simelane have also registered to be part of the tournament.

Swaziland National Chess Federation (SNCF) Secretary Nosmilo Mkhonto said they were impressed about the numbers.
“It is interesting to see international players coming to our shores for this tournament. We do hope they will give the locals some competition.

We are optimistic that local chess players will display improved performances because they learnt a lot of tricks and strategies from the United Kingdom-based chess instructor Nigel Short who was in the country in June for a chess workshop,” Mkhonto said.

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