Uganda’s FM Arthur Ssegwanyi is cruising and leading the chasing pack with 6 points after seven rounds in the Zone 4.2 Africa Chess Championship. His latest result was a well played draw against Egyptian Grandmaster El Gindy Essam in the seventh round.
Earlier on, Ssegwanyi beat fellow countryman FM Harold Wanyama in the sixth round and drawn with IM Elijah Emojong in the fifth round. He has also beaten Egyptian IM Hesham Abdelrahman (fourth round), CM Patrick Kawuma, Raphael Buti and Daniel Bagaadde.
He is now scheduled to take on an impressive Ethiopian player Tadese Estube Haileselasie in the eighth round to be played at 3:00 pm onFriday 24 April 2015. There are two more rounds to go.
The winner of the event is scheduled to become an International Master and represent Africa at the 2015 World Chess Cup to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan in September this year.
The biggest threat to Ssegwanyi’s title aspirations remains Egyptian IM Hesham Abdlrahman who has been fairly consistent. He drew with Uganda’s Patrick Kawuma in the seventh round, an important result that helped Ssegwanyi to maintain the half point lead after he himself drew with the Egyptian Grandmaster in the same round.
Abdelrahman takes on CM Haruna Nsubuga in the eighth round in yet another important game that has a serious bearing on Uganda’s dreams of snatching first place.
Nsubuga needs a result against Abdelrahman as Ssegwanyi deals with Estube. Estube drew with GM conqueror, Raphael Buti in the seventh round.
The one sure way of winning this event is for Ssegwanyi to win his last two games. Given the opposition, that is easier said than done.
In the ladies category, Egypt’s Ehab Tasneem beat Uganda’s Phiona Mutesi in the seventh round to get to maintain a half point lead ahead of Ivy Amoko with 6 points out of 7. Amoko beat fellow Ugandan Christine Namaganda. Also trailing the leaders is Grace Kigeni with 5.5 points after beating Goretti Angolikin.