24 Jun 2014

Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) has sent a team of six players (three males and three females) to represent the country at the Zone 4.3 Individual Chess Championships in Namibia.

The 2014 Zone 4.3 Open and Women Championships will be held on June 26 to July 1 in Windhoek.

The team, which consists of three males and three females, has been on camp at the University of Botswana and left on Sunday (June 22) accompanied by BCF Ratings and Technical director Vincent Masole and BCF Treasurer, Gofaone Baleseng.

In the Open section, Botswana will be represented by International Master (IM) Providence Oatlhotse, Candidate Master (CM) Barileng Gaealafshwe, and CM Thato Olebile.

Whilst the women section will be represented by Women Fide Master (WFM) Thapelo Francis, WFM Kgalalelo Botlhole and Women Candidate Master (WCM) Onkemetse Francis.

Winners will have the right to participate at the Africa Individual Championships and they will be awarded various titles both in the Open and Women section.

In the event of joint winners (players sharing the same points), the players will also get titles on first, second or third place.

BCF public relations director Keenese Katisenge said the tournament will serve as preparation for the 2014 Chess Olympiad which will be held in Tromso, Norway in August 2014.

The Zone 4.3 Individual Chess Championships were hosted in Botswana in 2013 where Francis and Olebile were awarded WFM and CM titles respectively by FIDE after impressive performance.

Woman International Master (WIM)  Boikhutso Modongo and WFM Francis also won medals for Botswana during the tournament. ENDS