By GODFREY DUBE –
LITTLE-KNOWN Kondwani Gondwe kept his nose in front of a pack of seven players, leading the Lusaka Province national chess team selection tournament on two points after two rounds.
In what is going to be a six-round tournament ending today, Gondwe had got the better of Emmanuel Mate and Danny Silavwe to move into joint leadership with two points.
He has a hoard of tough players around him on two oints as well and these include Leslie Chikuse, Oscar Mwenya, Justin Daka and Goodson Kalolo.
The other players on two points are Wisdom Siyingwa, and Clifford Kaimana, whom he was set to play in the third round.
Geoffrey Lwanja was leading a set of five players on 1.5 points with Gershom Musende among them.
Timothy Kabwe, James Dimba and Mutailenu Nshikokola were among the 18 players on one point while Kennedy Katowa and two other players were on 0.5 points with eight players yet to win a game.
On the top boards, Mwenya was up against Daka in round three while Chikuse and Siyingwa were battling it out on Board Three with Musende up against Robson Kameya on Board-Five.
Tournament Director Mulenga Mulenga described the turn-out as encouraging and that there was stiff competition.
Mulenga said the game is being played using Swiss system and that the competition had attracted a total of 43 players of which only 20 players will be selected.
He said the method used in the provincial selection will also be used next month when the selected 20 go to the Copperbelt as every province is expected to have 20 representatives before the final national team is selected.
“The tournament has attracted 43 players, this is a good turnout, we are using the direct encounter method, out of the 43 only 20 will be selected as a provincial team and these will go for national trials next month,” he said.