SRCL’s second edition of online chess tourney on Sunday
Southern Region Chess League (SRCL) is all set for the second edition of its online chess tournaments on Sunday, June 21 sponsored by two individuals, Godwin Ulaya and Wasoka Chirwa.
The first edition was played on June 7 and the third will be held on July 5.
The tournaments, which are open for participation for Centre and Northern leagues, are played from 20:00hrs in Britz time control of 3+0 played on lichess.org, an open-source internet chess server run by Lichess.
SRCL publicity secretary Wadza Otomani said registration fee is still the same at K500 for SRCL players and K1,000 for those from other leagues.
Registration fees, whose deadline is Sunday 17:00hrs, should be paid using Airtel Money for Martin Nyamilandu (0999 877 388) and SRCL chairperson Steve Mpighu’s TNM MPamba (0888 529 653).
The first edition was won by Malawi’s highest rated player, Fide Master Joseph Mwale after scoring 13 points in the 15-round tournament, beating a field of 64 players.
His runner-up was Francisco Mwangopiri on 11.5 points while CM Paul Khuphwathea was third — also on 11.5 points but the two were separated by a tiebreaker.
There are only two sections for the SRCL tournaments, Open and Ladies category, which was won by Tapiwa Banda on 7.5 points while Lackshit Dutt came second with 6.5 points.
Online chess tournament is the latest trend following the COVID-19 preventive measures on mass gatherings which even world chess governing body, FIDE is supporting.
Chess Association of Malawi (CHESSAM) is also organising it’s on online Blitz Challenge sponsored by MyBucks Bank.
Mwale also won the first edition in April but for May he was outsmarted by Candidate Master (CM) Petros ‘Razorblade’ Mfune.
In that second edition Mwale ended 8th and when he won the SRCL tourney, Mfune came 4th while former national champion and African Amateurs Champion, Chiletso Chipanga came 10th.
Also on the online menu was CHESSAM’s ‘Checkmate Coronavirus’ tournament, which is world chess governing body’s initiative has joined the online international chess tournaments initiative which run from June 1 until June 15.
