International Master Arthur Ssegwanyi is savoring his stay in Zambia. After enduring a horrible start at the Henry Chilufya Memorial Chess tournament – the GM Norm tourney – the IM finally unleashed the lion in him.
Ssegwanyi opened the event with two painful defeats, terribly losing to Zambian IM Mwali Chitumbo before losing to fellow Ugandan FM Harold Wanyama.
They were defeats that meant he played below his FIDE rating, and ones that threatened his elos, but since losing that Ugandan battle, the IM stepped up his game, and could see himself return home with a prize.
The recovery started against Zambian IMs Gilian Bwalya and Phiri Richmond. Ssegwanyi dispatched the Zambians in the third and fourth round respectively before going on to pull off a tournament shocker, beating a former World Junior Chess Champion and a four-time Commonwealth champion Grandmaster Gupta Abhijeet from India.
Although he lost to the highest rated player in the competition GM Adly Ahmed and later to GM Greenfeld Alon, he produced another memorable result, drawing against the Russian GM Petr Kiriakov.
By beating Gupta, he became and remains the only player at the tourney to down a GM. He also became the first player to draw with the GM, but was later joined by Chitumbo who drew with Gupta.
Uganda’s other representative Wanyama is on the other side of the fence. Wanyama hasn’t seen victory since beating IM Stanley Chumfwa in the fourth round. He has since lost four games in row.
Added to the first two he lost to Gupta and Chitumbo, those are six losses for him. The FM has managed only two wins in the competition.
Chances of adding the third are very minimal as he faces GM Kiriakov in the final round on Wednesday.
Ssegwanyi meets Chumfwa hoping to end his wonderful stay in Zambia in fashion.