National Chess Champion Chiletso Chipanga yesterday suffered a setback at the World Amateur Chess Championship when he lost to Mongolian Gunbayer Myagmarsuren in round four of the competition.
The tournament is taking place in Cagliari, Italy.
After giving a dubious pawn sacrifice in the opening phase of the game, which the Mongolian gladly accepted, Chipanga was always on the defence.
Candidate Master (CM) Chipanga is rated 2126 while Fide Master(FM) Myagmarsuren who is the tournament’s second seed is on 2265.
Chipanga has seen off 1928 rated Said Jidal Ali of Oman in round one and FM Zhunussov Bibek of Kazakhstan in round two.
Brazilian FM Hugo Caetano was Chipanga’s round three victim.
The Malawian who is the current Africa Amateur Gold Medalist is now in sixth place level at 3 points with Gal Monshe of Israel who lies fifth.
Italian pair Altea Alessandro and Ibba Isacob are third and fourth respectively with 3.5 points each.
Colombian Garavito Miguel Angel is topping the chart with four points after round four, tied with Chipanga’s conqueror Myagmarsuren who lies second.
With five rounds of matches to go, Chipanga cannot afford to drop any points if he is to stand a chance of conquering the world.
However, Spokesperson for the Chess Association of Malawi(CHESSAM) Makhosi Nyirenda, says Chipanga’s realistic target should now be the bronze medal.
The winner of the tournament will walk away with about K896,000.
