By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
ZAMBIA’S Joshua Mulauzi missed out on a medal at the 2015 African Under-20 Chess Championship held in Seychelles after losing his final round game to finish in fifth position with five points.
With Elias Musonda, the other Zambian at the tournament, winning his closing game, the two Zambian representatives both finished on five points, one full point off the podium place.
The five points Musonda and Mulauzi attained were also a staggering three off title winner David Silva of Angola, who ended the tournament without losing a match.
Mulauzi, who was chasing a medal going into the final round, was defeated by highly rated Nigerian Daniel Anwuli, who finished on 5.5 points and in fourth position.
The loss was painful for Mulauzi especially that there were draws on the first two boards and a win would have seen him finish third and get himself a bronze medal.
With that defeat, Mulauzi was joined on five points by Musonda who won his game against unrated Somali Farah Ali Abdullahi.
When Mulauzi looks back at his performance in this tournament, he will cry and then smile having started poorly by losing his first two matches before putting up an impressive run of five wins in six matches before losing the closing round.
For Musonda, it was a shockingly consistent performance of a loss coming after a win right from the first round until the last.
He started with a win then lost the second round before he picked up a win in the third, then succumbed to a loss in the fourth with the pattern continuing to the ninth round.