Joseph Mwale sets up online chess academy for young Malawians

Malawi’s highest rated player, Joseph Mwale has set up an online Malawi Chess Academy that will be held every Thursdays and Sundays from 17:00hrs.

In an interview, the South Africa-based FIDE Master professional player and coach, said the lessons will be conducted on Zoom and Google Meet platforms and there will be tournaments for the students on Saturdays, whose top three winners will get coaching for free in the next lesson.

Charges for the group coaching, which will commence on July 2, will be at K3,000 per student per lesson and there will also be discounted rates for families with 2 or more students registered.

Mwale said his assistant coaches are his brother George, who is a Candidate Master as well as another CM Petros Mfune and Tshediso Mpya.

“Those interested can contact me through +27610865650 or through [email protected] and payments will be made to my brother George through Airtel Money or TNM Mpamba or the Academy’s bank account,” Mwale said.

Mwale, who is an African Online Champion, is in South Africa earning a living through playing and coaching chess.

He has trained many South Africans, who from scratch went on to attain titles that include that country’s top Under-18 champion, Candidate Master Keith Khumalo and FIDE Master Naseem Essa.

“I believe anyone can improve their level given the right training,” he said. “My passion is to shape my compatriots after seeing the potential they possess.”

Soon after South Africa went on lockdown due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, the chess genius introduced an online tournament which he also involved Malawian youths.

They were playing the games on Lichess app and were also being used for rating.

Mwale, who became a chess star in Malawi at a tender age of 8, said the juniors he has been interacting with so far are very good and in the group he also has Malawi national junior team players as well as Under-16 team players for South Africa.

He is currently Gauteng North Under-20 coach but this online group coaching is strictly for Malawian players to improve their level of the game.

“I am targeting mostly Under-20 and with time, I will divide them into 2 groups — beginners and advanced.

“I already run private lessons with more than 7 Malawian students online and that prompted me to open up to as many as possible,” he said.