Malawi secures 2 titles at Chess Olympiad
Malawian female players led by Susan Namangale (2nd from left)
Two Malawian players have achieved Woman Candidate Master (WCM) titles at the just ended 2024 World Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.
Tupokiwe Msukwa and 14-year-old Rachel Jayloss earned their WCM titles, with Jayloss becoming the youngest Malawian girl ever to receive a chess title.
Chess Association of Malawi (CHESSAM) publicist Francisco Mwangupili describes the development as encouraging.
“This milestone is an inspiring moment for Malawi’s younger chess generation. Previously, Malawi had only two titled female players, WFM Linda Jambo and WCM Ellen Mpinganjira.
“Malawi entered the Olympiad with two key goals: to finish in the top 100 in both categories and to secure new titles for players. While the top 100 finish proved challenging, the team proudly achieved two new Woman Candidate Master (WCM) titles,” Mwangupili highlighted.
At the world tournament, the Malawi Open team finished 122nd out of 196 countries, an improvement from their starting rank of 124 while the Women’s team concluded the event ranked 144th out of 181 countries.
Meanwhile, CHESSAM has thanked the world chess governing body, FIDE for their generous donation of 18 chess clocks and 8 electronic DGT chess sets, describing the gesture as a valuable contribution to the development of sport in the country.
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