KCF donates 11 chess sets to Central Region Chess League
Central Region Chess League (CRCL) has received a major equipment boost ahead of the league kick-off after getting a donation of 11 chess sets from Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF), an international organisation founded by former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov.
The presentation was made by KCF local representative Leonard Sharra during the weekend blitz tournament sponsored by renowned chess player and former national chess champion Ulemu Chiluzi to the tune of K50,000 at Kamuzu Institute of Youth in Lilongwe.
Sharra said the Foundation was responding to a request by the league, which has been experiencing problems of equipment during its competitions.
“We did not hesitate to respond to the league’s request, having noted the good progress the regional league has been making in the recent past. Of late, we have seen more sponsors coming aboard to help the league and others entering into partnerships with the league. We would also want to help the league in a small way and hopefully this is just the start of good things to come from the foundation,” said Sharra.
Sharra, who served as Chess Association of Malawi (Chessam) general secretary for 10 consecutive years disclosed that the equipment was part of the consignment from the K44 million Schools Mini-chess Project that was withdrawn by KCF following misunderstandings with the Chessam leadership.
He thanked the Foundation’s Patron Garry Kasparov for accepting to leave behind some 150 chess sets from the project for local chess development despite the lukewarm reception of the project and humiliation suffered by the world chess icon at the hands of the Chessam top brass.
CRCL chairman Khama Chindole hailed the foundation for the timely donation, which he said will help the league administer the forth-coming chess league as well as sponsored tournaments. He urged the foundation to consider assisting the league with chess clocks.
“We have a critical shortage of chess clocks. You saw yourself some players using phones as chess clocks while others waited for others to finish their games to use the clocks. We hope the foundation will consider helping us with some clocks,” said Chindole.
Sharra said he will forward the request to the KCF Africa head office in South Africa.
‘Razor Blade’ reigns
The blitz tournament was won by World Chess Olympiad bound player Petros Mfune, alias Razor Blade, who won all his nine games.
He got a cash prize of K30,000 from the sponsor: “I thank Mr Chiluzi for sponsoring the blitz tournament and hope he will continue sponsoring such competitions. It has not been an easy ride but I had all the confidence that I will win the tournament,” said Mfune.
Area 25 based Goodwell Manda finished second after losing a single game. He pocketed K20,000 with third-placed Khama Chindole, also from Area 25 walking home K10,000 richer.
Chiluzi hailed all the players for participating in the tournament: “It was just a way of bringing fun and helping players refresh their minds and this is going to continue,” said Chiluzi.
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Bravo KCF! To hell with Chessam president Kezi Msukwa and his boot lickers who sabotaged the schools project after being bribed by Kirsan. By the way, Kezi has been Chess president for 12 years and we hear he is campaigning 5th term as president. Don’t you have other people who can run chess in Malawi and bring real development? Politicians like Kezi will not take the game anywhere because they put their personal interests first. Remember how Kezi dumped DPP and joined PP soon after Bingu’s death. Now he has left PP and joined MCP thinking that MCP will go… Read more »