Hemed Mlawa who has the rating of 1791 emerged as the winner of the 5th Zanzibar Open Chess Championship held over the weekend of 14th & 15th January 2017 in Zanzibar.
Mlawa,who has represented Tanzania in the 2016 Baku Olympiad ended with 5.5 points after the hectic 6 rounds.
The second position was grabbed by Godlove Kimaro of Tanzania who has a rating of 1695 points and the third slot went to the CM Nurdin Hassuji also of Tanzania who is rated 1764.
Nurdin Hassuji’s son 13 years old Taher Hassugji emerged winner in Junior section with 3.5 points while the 2nd and third slot going to South African Keegan Stassen and Haruna Muhammed respectively in the junior category
The highest ranked player in the tournament Zambian William Kangwa 1810 had to settle for fourth position with 4.5 points.
In general the tournament was dominated by players from Tanzania Mainland who had brought a big delegation as compared to Zanzibar.
The best Zanzibari players were Ibrahim Adulrahman, Subeya Hemed and Amir Saleh who settled for 8th, 9th and 11th positions respectively. The best junior player from Zanzibar was Marshed Khalffan Talib who was placed 23rd with 2.5 points.
Chess Zanzibar Interim Chairperson promised the Zanzibar Open would be an annual event and said his body was contemplating to hold another tournament in June and hoping to attract players from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia.
Sponsors for the were Park Hyatt,Hurumzini Cine Cafe, ComNet, ZanLink and Zanzibar School of Health.
Reporting by Alley Saleh, Interim Chairman of Zanzibar Chess Association and Member of Parliament for Malindi Constituency in Zanzibar.
