(Article courtesy of Uganda Chess Federation)
Uganda’s male representative in the Zone 4.2 Africa Chess Championship, Elijah Emojong finished the event in joint fourth position with 5 points out of 9, thereby registering a 55.5% score in the star-studded tournament, which earns him the FIDE Master title, according to FIDE regulations.
Emojong’s FM title is now only awaiting confirmation from FIDE after the organisers submit the results. In the 8th round played on Friday 27th May 2011, he lost to Egypt’s IM Ibrahim Hatim rated 2373 before recovering to round up Sudan’s Nadir Samir rated 2157 in the last round played on Saturday 28th May 2011. The final result gave him an average performance rating of 2240.
In the Ladies category, Goretti Angolikin finished second behind Egypt’s Mahmood Merihan to scoop a silver medal that she had proudly donned on arrival at Entebbe International Airport, this afternoon.
To win silver, Angolikin won seven games, drew one and lost two against the same opponent from Egypt. The ladies engaged in a double round robin. Angolikin’s exploits would under normal circumstances guarantee her the title of Woman International Master (WIM), but considering that the number of countries that participated in the ladies category were only 3 as opposed to the 5 in the men’s event, the possibility of her getting the title is awaiting FIDE’s discretion. While she automatically qualifies for a title by virtue of her finishing in clear second position and registering a score of 83.3% there is another FIDE regulation, which states that for zonal tournaments, a title can only be awarded if one third (1/3) of the countries in the zone participate in the event. For Zone 4.2, one third of the countries would atleast be 4 countries. On the contrary, Emojong’s situation fulfills all the FIDE requirements for award of an FM title.
Emojong will become Uganda’s third FM after the two UK based brothers Stephen Kawuma and Moses Kawuma. The only other titled players in the country are Candidate Masters, CM Bob Bibasa and CM Patrick Kawuma.
The Uganda Chess Federation is extremely proud of the youngsters’ achievements.
Final results were as follows:
Men
| NAME | COUNTRY | TITLE | RATING | POINTS | AWARD |
| Ibrahim Hatim | Egypt | IM | 2373 | 8.5 | Gold |
| Sarwat Walaa | Egypt | IM | 2350 | 7 | Silver |
| Olape Bunmu | Nigeria | FM | 2245 | 7 | Bronze |
| Yaaqoub Rashid | Sudan | - | 2102 | 5 | - |
| Elijah Emojong | Uganda | - | - | 5 | - |
| Ahmed Holi Moawia | Sudan | CM | 2182 | 3.5 | - |
| Elobeid Asim Ali | Sudan | CM | 2075 | 3 | - |
| Nadir Samir | Sudan | CM | 2157 | 2.5 | - |
| Makem Pierre | Cameroon | CM | - | 2 | - |
| A Gemish | Sudan | - | - | 1.5 | - |
Women
| NAME | COUNTRY | TITLE | RATING | POINTS | AWARD |
| Mahmood Merihan | Egypt | - | 1842 | 9 | Gold |
| Goretti Angolikin | Uganda | - | - | 7.5 | Silver |
| Albeeli Tayseer | Sudan | - | - | 6.5 | Bronze |
| El Hassan Ibtihal | Sudan | - | - | 3.5 | - |
| Nsreldeen Zainab | Sudan | - | - | 2.5 | - |
| Tanyous Elizabeth | Sudan | - | - | 1 | - |
The players returned to Uganda on Sunday 29th May 2011.
The next event on the calendar is the Africa Individual Chess Championship in Maputo, Mozambique starting from 3rd June to 14th June 2011. Emojong has already been registered for the event and efforts are being made to ensure that he gets the air ticket and funds for accommodation while in Maputo, which total about 1,800 US Dollars.