27 Feb 2014

The last qualifiers for this year’s Metropolitan National Chess Championships will be held this weekend (March 1-2) at Wingate Hotel in Francistown.

Top 24 players who made it through the first qualifiers in Gaborone two weeks ago will be joined in the open section by defending champion, Ignatious Njobvu, in their fight for 10 available slots at the finals.

Njobvu, who is a Fide Master, did not participate in the last round of qualifiers, where about 240 players participated. Among the top players that will be playing in the open section in Francistown on Saturday and Sunday are six players with FIDE titles.

They include Phemelo Khetho, a Fide Master, and five Candidate Masters in; Thato Olebile, Barileng Gaealafswe, Thabo Gumpo, Abihram Sasitharan and Priyav Chandna. Some 19  players in the women’s section, including defending champion Boikhutso Modongo, will tussle for 10 slots at the finals.

In this section, titled players like Tshepiso Lopang, Kgalalelo Botlhole, Okemetse Francis and Thapelo Francis will be favourites to make it to the finals. Another player who will be looking to impress is rising star, Malebogo Sokisi.

The finals will be held over the Easter Holidays in Gaborone next month. Metropolitan Botswana, which is the competition’s longtime sponsor, has availed a total of P108 750 towards this year’s competition.

Keenese Katisenge, the communications director of Botswana Chess Federation (BCF), said the long standing relationship between BCF and Metropolitan can be traced as far back as 2006. She said the sponsorship value has been growing steadily over the years.

“The 2013 championships were sponsored with P80 000 and Metropolitan Botswana has now increased the sponsorship amount with P28 750, taking the total 2014 sponsorship amount to P108 750.00,” Katisenge stated.

She explained that players who will win the tournament this year are going to make it into the provisional national teams that will eventually represent Botswana at the Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway in August. ENDS