PAIDAISHE ZENGENI AND MPUMELELO MOYO SHINE AT YOUTH AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LUSAKA ZAMBIA
WCM Paidaishe Zengeni
CM Mpumelelo Moyo (far right) with Glen Norah Knights Academy members Collins Mabodongwa and Kudzai Mhandu
10 year old Mpumelelo Moyo and 16 year old Paidaishe Zengeni did Zimbabwe proud at the just ended African Youth Chess Championships held in Lusaka, Zambia. The 10 year old chess wizard won a silver medal in the under 10 category with a scintillating performance of 7/9. Varden Trevelyn of South Africa was first in this category earning an incredible 8 points out of 9 games.
Fast improving Paidaishe Zengeni, a young sister to one of the best female Zimbabwean chess players Tatenda “Tatsy” Zengeni garnered a bronze medal at the championships held from December 11 to 19. She scored 6.5 points dropping 2.5 points. Again South Africans dominated in this under 16 girls category, as Amra Tasnim from RSA ran riot collecting 8.5 points out of a possible 9. Amra’s fellow compatriot and country lady Voges Rachelle-Mari collected silver with a 7.5/9 performance. Both Moyo and Zengeni have earned CM FIDE titles i.e Candidate Master which means they need to work hard to aim for the FM (Fide Master) title which is the next on the ladder of FIDE titles.
Our youngest representative 6 year old Refiloe Mudodo also did well in the under 8 category with 5 points earning a 5th position out of 10. Gardiner Noa of RSA won a gold medal in this youngest participants category. The South Africans have stolen everything!
Our current Ladies National Champion Colletah Wakuruwarehwa found the tournament tough as she collected 5 points coming 6th out of 11 in the U18 ladies category. She should have used the same venom she had back in August in the National Championships as she chewed the Zimbabwean ladies with a brilliant 9/9 performance. In this category WCM Epah Tembo of Zambia took the Gold medal with 8/9 points.
The event featured nine countries-South Africa, Egypt, Zambia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, Nigeria, and Malawi. Zimbabwe managed to send an 18-member team and finished on fifth position with 2 medals.
Mpumelelo Moyo attributed his success to adequate preparations ahead of the championships. “I played nine games but my best game was against Egypt’s Adham Kandel, he was the strongest as he won most of his games and people thought I was going to lose but I won. I then lost to Trevelyn because I was tired but I am happy I won a silver medal,” said Moyo a Westley Primary student.
Zengeni who is a St Johns student said the championships are a good platform for junior players to get exposure.
“I think we did better than last year. We get exposure by going to such events and it helps the players to improve. I used to play chess a lot at home when I was still in Primary School and I started to take part in tournaments when I was in Secondary School, I am very excited,” said Zengeni.
Chairman for Zimbabwe Schools Chess Association, Joseph Moyo said the team has been improving since they started competing in the championships in 2009 when they were introduced by the Chess Union.
“The event was introduced in 2009 when the Chess Union decided to promote chess at grassroots level. This is the third time we are going to this level of competition. In our first appearance we finished on the bottom of the tables. Last year it was a disaster again, we were last with no medals. We had to go back to the drawing board, our shortfall came from lack of technical preparedness. This time we chose our team earlier and we had very serious competitions in between as part of our preparations,” said Moyo the father to Mpumelelo Moyo.
3rd African Youth Championships 2011- U16 Girls Lusaka,Zambia
Final Ranking after 9 Rounds
| Rk. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | Amra Tasnim | RSA | 1571 | 8.5 | 8 | 39.5 | 37.00 |
| 2 | Voges Rachelle – Mari | RSA | 0 | 7.5 | 7 | 41.5 | 30.00 |
| 3 | Zengeni Paidaishe | ZIM | 0 | 6.5 | 5 | 43.5 | 27.75 |
| 4 | Nthite Rosa | BOT | 0 | 6.0 | 5 | 43.0 | 24.00 |
| 5 | Domingas Maria | ANG | 0 | 5.5 | 4 | 42.0 | 19.25 |
| 6 | Kwara Wendy | ZIM | 0 | 5.0 | 4 | 42.5 | 15.50 |
| 7 | Cheleka Namakau | ZAM | 0 | 4.0 | 3 | 40.5 | 9.00 |
| 8 | Genada Precious | ZAM | 0 | 4.0 | 3 | 39.5 | 9.00 |
| 9 | Akolade Simbia Ojora | NGR | 0 | 4.0 | 3 | 38.0 | 9.00 |
| 10 | Wambui Roselinda | KEN | 0 | 2.0 | 1 | 37.5 | 2.00 |
| 11 | Kaharo Jackline | KEN | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 38.0 | 0.50 |
3rd African Youth Championships 2011- U10 Boys Lusaka, Zambia
Final Ranking after 9 Rounds
| Rk. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | Varden Trevelyn | RSA | 0 | 8.0 | 8 | 40.5 | 35.50 |
| 2 | Moyo Mpumelelo | ZIM | 0 | 7.0 | 7 | 45.0 | 33.00 |
| 3 | Kandel Adham | EGY | 0 | 7.0 | 7 | 38.0 | 23.00 |
| 4 | Dev Shah | KEN | 0 | 5.0 | 5 | 44.5 | 21.50 |
| 5 | Ritvik Pendyala | KEN | 0 | 5.0 | 5 | 42.0 | 15.00 |
| 6 | Louhan Fourie | RSA | 0 | 5.0 | 5 | 37.5 | 13.50 |
| 7 | Mbita Mapalo | ZAM | 0 | 4.5 | 4 | 39.5 | 10.50 |
| 8 | Kathiresan Amaresh | BOT | 0 | 4.0 | 4 | 40.5 | 12.00 |
| 9 | Sumit Deshpande | KEN | 0 | 4.0 | 3 | 37.0 | 15.00 |
| 10 | Mokoto Thero | BOT | 0 | 2.5 | 2 | 42.5 | 4.00 |
| 11 | Chilufya Edward | ZAM | 0 | 1.5 | 1 | 37.5 | 4.25 |
| 12 | Kunda Ngosa | ZAM | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 41.5 | 0.75 |
