Dante Beukes and Lishen Mentile win Namibia Championship 2021
IM Dante Beukes cemented his position as one of his country’s top players when he won the 2021 Namibian Closed Chess Championship with a perfect score of 9/9. It is his third national title. He won his first Namibian Championship at the age of 14 in 2017, and his second in 2019. Khoa Goodwill who was the 2013 Champion finished a distant second with 6 points. CM Charles Eichab, the seven-time Namibia Chess Champion ended up in third place with 5½ points. WCM Lishen Mentile, on the other hand, emerged as the winner of the Ladies section of the 2021 Namibian Closed Chess Championship. She won the event with a score of 6 points out of 7 rounds. Lishen Mentile is one of Namibia’s top lady players. She has represented her country in 3 Olympiads (2012, 2016 and 2018). In addition, she has won the Namibian Chess Championship in 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2017. WFM Rauha Shipindo was second with 5½ points; Van Wyk Keisha came in third with 4.5 points. The charming Windhoek Country Club Resort was one of the sponsors and the venue for the hotly contested competition. Three Dimension Printing CC and MNE Accounting Services were the other sponsors of the event. Text: Kenya Chess Masala Photo: Namibia Chess Federation
Wojtaszek and Kulon clinch Polish Championship 2021
Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Klaudia Kulon are Polish Champions 2021. The 78th Lotto Polish Championship took place from April 28 to May 05 in Bydgoszcz. The open and women’s sections and were played over the board in two different formats. The open section brought together the best Polish players except for Jan-Krzysztof Duda, battling in a knockout tournament. The rating favourite Radoslaw Wojtaszek was up to the task and reached the final where he faced Wojciech Moranda. Wojciech Moranda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek With his back against the wall after losing the first game, Radoslaw managed to level the score in the second one and then prevailed on tiebreak. It is his fourth national title. In the match for the bronze medal, Bartosz Socko defeated the revelation of the tournament 17-year old Pawel Teclaf. The women’s tournament was an old good 10-player round-robin. IM Klaudia Kulon won the last four blitz championships (the 2020 one also in Bydgoszcz), and finally, the time has come for the classic time control. Klaudia leapfrogged Jolanta Zawadzka in the final round by a half-point after beating Joanna Dworakowska, whereas her main rival fell to Iweta Rajlich and had to settle for silver. Karina Cyfka took bronze thanks to better tiebreaks over Joanna Majdan. Julia Antolak and Klaudia Kulon Final standings: 1. IM Klaudia Kulon (2347) – 62. WGM Jolanta Zawadzka (2399) – 5½3. IM Karina Cyfka (2415) – 5½4. WGM Joanna Majdan (2325) – 5½5. IM Iweta Rajlich (2394) – 56. GM Monika Soćko (2421) – 4½7. IM Joanna Dworakowska (2322) – 48. WIM Julia Antolak (2306) – 49. WFM Michalina Rudzińska (2251) – 2½10. WIM Alicja Śliwicka (2346) – 2½ Photo: Weronika Poczwardowska Official website: mp2021.pzszach.pl/
African Individual Chess Championships announced
The Chess Association of Malawi is pleased to invite all African Chess Federations affiliated to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to the 2021 African Individual Chess Championships. The Championships will be held at the Crossroads Hotel in the City of Lilongwe in Malawi from May 17, 2021 (arrival) to May 28, 2021 (departure). The event includes an Open Section and a Women’s Section. Each National Federation is entitled to delegate a maximum of five (5) players to each Section. Both events are 9-round Swiss tournaments tournament played with the time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one for each player. All participants will be required to adhere to the specific local Covid-19 guidelines as communicated by the host Federation. The specific ruling guidelines at the time of the event will be communicated by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) prior to the commencement of the tournament. The 2021 African Individual Championships are a qualification event for the FIDE World Cup 2021. The top 4 placed players in the Open Section will qualify for the FIDE World Cup 2021 which will take place in Sochi, Russia from July 10, 2021, to August 3, 2021. Entry Forms must be completed and returned to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) no later than May 10, 2021. Regulations, Schedule and Entry Form (pdf)