Mlawa off to Cairo for chess championships

Tanzanian chess player Hemed Mlawa left the country yesterday for Zone 4 & 2 Championships which get underway in Cairo from tomorrow to December.

According to Vinay Choudary, the Tanzania Chess Foundation founder, Mlawa’s trip was based on his performance at the recent local and international events.

Choudary said he is confident that the player will perform wel
l at the championships.

“He is leaving for Egypt today (Yesterday) and I’m confident that he will perform well at the event and bring home medals.  It’s a big event but it’s my hope that he will do well,” he said.  

He said Mlawa, who has been sponsored by Spicenet, is expected back home on December 2.

 Choudary, who is also the member of Tanzania Chess Association (TCA), said based on Mlawa  performance  in Egypt, the company will see if they  can sponsor him to Namibia for African Individual Chess Championships (AICC) which are slated for December 12- 23.

The AICC have been organized by Namibia Chess Federation (NCF) and is open to three players from all African Chess Federations which are affiliated to the World Chess Federation (FIDE)

The organizers of the Namibia AICC said the event will be played in accordance with FIDE regulations as a 9 Round Swiss System tournament and time control will be 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one .

The winner in the Open Section will be awarded the International Master (IM) title whilst the winner in the Women’s Section will be awarded the Woman International Master (WIM) title and also they will be cash prizes to winners from position 1-8.

The Namibia event will also be used as qualification for the 2015 FIDE African Grand Prix Circuit.