(Article courtesy of Uganda Chess Federation)
Uganda’s two representatives in the Zone 4.2 Africa Chess Championship Elijah Emojong and Goretti Angolikin both registered crucial wins in their 7th round games on Thursday 26th May 2011 to each get to 4.5 points out of 7 in their respective categories.
In the men’s category, Emojong mercilessly beat Cameroon’s Pierre Makem who happens to be his room-mate in Khartoum while in the ladies corner, Angolikin outwitted Sudan’s Tyseer Mohamed in an interesting game that attracted a number of spectators.
A number of anxious Sudanese crowded the playing table in anticipation as Angolikin’s opponent sacrificed a Queen for a tactical mating combination. Much to their dismay, the Ugandan chess ace noticed the trap and after thinking for a couple of minutes manoeuvred her way out of danger by avoiding to capture the sacrificed Queen and instead capitalised on positional concessions to eke out a hard fought win that propelled her to second position (behind the Egyptian Merham Mahmood) in the ladies standings with two games to go.
In today’s (27th May 2011) eighth round games, Emojong has a mountain to climb in a must-win game against Egyptian International Master (IM) Ibrahim Hatem who has a rating of 2375. The 19 year old Ugandan has so far won three games, drawn three and lost one. He is left with two more games.
Angolikin will be up against Sudan’s Zainab Nsrelbeen in the eighth round. The event ends with the last game on Saturday 28th May 2011 and the players will be back in Uganda on Sunday 29th May 2011 aboard Ethiopian Airlines at 12.50 pm.