Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Kudzanayi Charinda finished sixth at the Africa Individual Chess Championship in Lilongwe Malawi, held from May 17 – 28.
WCM Charinda suffered a setback in the first round after losing to a lowly rated Banhorst Chloe of South Africa in the first round, and she never looked back.
The 26-year-old Zimbabwean chess champion pulled herself together and geared for the most covetous prize of the tournament.
She went on to beat WCM Wanjiru Lucy of Kenya. Charinda made no mistake against the Kenyan master and scored the first point of the tournament. In the third round, Charinda defeated Dutt Lakshita of Malawi before she outplayed Woman Fide Master (WFM) Mongeli Sasha of Kenya in the next match to score another crucial point.
In the fifth round, the Zimbabwean chess master cruised past Ndirangu Joyce of Kenya.
Charinda took on Algerian Woman International Master (WIM) Nassr in round six. The contest was explosive, and none managed to draw some blood from the game. It was a truce as the players fought tirelessly for elusive wins, which never came. A draw was the fairest result.
Round seven could have catapulted Charinda to the podium. Alas, that was not to be as she succumbed to some board reality pressure and blundered in a won position.
The fans all over the Zim Chess platform were watching the game on the live board, expressed their disappointment after she fumbled and ceded the point to WIM Jesse Nikki February.
Charinda’s legion of fans were on the edge of their seats watching the pulsating game online in which the Zimbabwean had shown her attacking prowess, then crumbled like a deck of cards by a mere miss in the penultimate stages of the game.
As anger and regret permeated the atmosphere in the penultimate round, Charinda gathered her strength and punished her Senegalese opponent Marochkina Nadezhda Valerevna in the eighth round.
In the tournament’s last final game, the Zimbabwean candidate master drew with highly rated Egyptian Woman Grand Master Wafa Shahenda. The performance left her in joint fourth position and earning a Woman Fide Master title when she reaches a rating of 1900, which is a dream come true for her, judging from the performance.
WIM Jesse Nikki February of South Africa won the women tournament, and Egyptian GM Adly Ahmed won the men section.
Zimbabwean National Master Spencer Masango finished on position 21.
