By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –

INTERNATIONAL Master (IM) Daniel Jere will lead the Zambia chess team at this year’s World Chess Olympiads in the Norwegian town of Trosmo this weekend.
The Zambian contingent will, however, be without star performers Gillan Bwalya and Andrew Kayonde who both pulled out of the team due to work commitments.
On the women’s side, Women FIDE Master (WFM) Lorita Mwango will lead the five-member women squad that will also miss the sevices of Epah Tembo, who pulled out of the team.
Chess Federation of Zambia (CFZ) secretary Bwalya Ntemena said yesterday that 10 players will represent Zambia and are scheduled to leave the country on Tuesday, July, 29 for the tournament that starts on Friday August 1.
“This year’s World Chess Olympiads known as Trosmo 2014 starts on August 1, through to August 14 and 10. Zambian players wh have been picked  make a very strong team and we expect them to perform well at the championship,” Ntemena said.
The CFZ secretary, however, called for financial support, saying the federation was still scouting for a shortfall of K50,000 to enable the team travel and meet all obligations of the tournament.
The Zambian chess landscape has not been short of controversy in the last few months which include the national team selection tournament at which Jere and Tembo missed out.
Innuendos flew stating that Jere and his wife Tembo missed the trials because they felt demeaned to be subjected to the trials when they had proved themselves good enough over the years.
Others stated that bringing Jere to a selection tournament was as good as subjecting Amon Simutowe to trials, but the CFZ and Jere sat to resolve the perceived difference which resulted in Jere reuniting with his chess family and proved his status over the monthly tournaments which he dominated.
But there was an unexpected pull out from the team by Andrew Kayonde who claimed on social media that he would be too committed at work to be part of the Trosmo tournament.
Bwalya pulled out of the national team as he failed to take part in the selection because of the training he is undergoing at Lilayi Police College.
The team selected for the Olympiads are in the men category with Jere, Stanley Chumfwa and Chitumbo Mwali who are all International Masters as well as FIDE Master Kelvin Chumfwa and Richmond Phiri.
The women team has Lorita Mwango, Constance Mbatha, Yvonne Saina, Linda Hamoonga and Kabamba Bwalya.
Ultimately, the Zambia men team would have been stronger with Amon Simutowe, Gillan Bwalya and Andrew Kayonde while Epah Tembo would have been a positive addition to the team.