By RONALD CHAWE –
ZAMBIAN chess players Douglas Munenga and Lorita Mwango were toppled from the top of the standing at the ongoing Zone 4.3Individual chess championship in Maputo in the men and female categories respectively.
In the men’s category, Fide Master (FM)Munenga who led the standings going into the sixth round, lost to South Africa’s FM John Klaasen before he bounced back with a win against Candidate Master (CM) ManuelJulio Do Santos of Angola to drop to second position.
With two rounds remaining, Munenga stands tall with five points, half-a-point shy to new leader FM Catarino Domingos of Angola but half-a-point better than four other players namely International Masters IM) duo of Pedro Aderito and DavidSilva both of Angola and South African pair of Klaasen and FM CharlesDe Villiers.
Others Zambians in Kela Kaulule, Daniel Mulenga and CM Musatwe Simutowe wererated 13th, 19th and 20th with three points each, together with fiveother players.
In the ladies section, Mwango, who was unbeaten after five round, went on to lose back-to-back toWomen International Master (WIM) Nikki Jesse February and Megan VanNiekerk to drop to fourth position.
She remained stuck on 4.5 points and was joined on a list by two Zambians in WCM Lubuuto Bwalya, who was an opponent in the eighth round, Linda Hamoonga as well as Angola’s Esperanca Caxita and Boikhutso Mudongo of Botswana.
Other Zambian ladies in WCM Constance Mbatha and Daisy Simenda wereranked 12th and 18th after they accumulated 3.5 and 2.5 each respectively.