By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
WOMAN Candidate Master (WCM) Phyllis Mwilola joined a special club of players after winning all her seven games at the inaugural African Amateur Individual Chess Championship held in Mozambique.
After securing the title with a round to spare having won all her six matches, the 24-year-old Mwilola made easy meat of her last round opponent Maria Ossifo of Mozambique to secure the perfect result.
With her rare seven points from seven rounds, Mwilola finished 2.5 points clear of her nearest opponent Aridas de Castro who ended on 4.5 points after she was defeated in the last round by Joana Curia, who finished on four points same as Ossifo.
In the men section, Kiddy Mukwaya squashed his chance of winning the tournament after he drew his last round game against lowly-placed Avertino Sande.
Going into the final round with 5.5 points, just half-a-point behind leader Thuso Mosutha of Botswana, Mukwaya failed to maximise on the draw recorded by Mosutha on Board-One.
Draws by Mukwaya and Mosutha means that the Tswana took the title with 6.5 points while Mukwaya was second with six points and Mozambican Milton Batao was the best-placed local player on six points.
The other Zambian at the games Aaron Banda lost to local upstart Carlos Mutumane and subsequently finished the tournament in joint fifth with two others with 4.5 points.
Banda’s loss was his second straight defeat after going seven rounds without a defeat.
Batao was the only player to have defeated Mukwaya while the champion went the entire tournament without losing and in the process winning five games and drawing three, two of them against the Zambian pair.