Prince Mulenga’s Dubai adventure
Prince Mulenga, who is one of Zambia’s top player, took part in the 21st Dubai Open.
21st Dubai Open
Dubai Chess Club was the organiser of the Dubai Open which attracted just over 150 players from 35 federations! India had approximately 80 players taking part in the event which had an impressive prize fund of USD 50,000 (KES 5 million). The top prize was USD 13,000 for the winner.
GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam was the top-ranked player with a whopping 2711 rating.
Algeria had three players, Zambia two players with Egypt, Morocco and South Africa having one player each.
Prince Mulenga was the top player from Zambia taking part in the event. Shadreck Mwansa was the other Zambian in the tournament.
GM Adly Ahmed represented Egypt & GM Bellahcene Bilel was Algeria’s representative.
FM Essa Naseem Ahmed was South Africa’s representative.
IM Tissir Mohamed from Morocco was the other top player from Africa.
The event had an average rating of 2159 with 31 GMs, 2 WGM’s, 24 IM’s and 8 WIM’s. The event ran from 31st March – 11th April 2019.
Prince Mulenga slays two Grandmasters
Prince Mulenga will most probably remember the date of 6th April 2019 for the rest of his life. It was the day that he defeated two Grandmasters!
The first Grandmaster to fall on Mulenga’s sword was WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova the young talent from Uzbekistan. WGM Gulrukbegim Tokhirjonova, who is only 19 years old, is rated 2427. She has also represented Uzbekistan at the 2016 and 2018 Olympiads.
His next victim was GM Temur Kuybokarov of Australia! GM Temur Kuybokarov is rated 2519! GM Temur Kuybokarov is 18 years old and was originally from Uzbekistan and who now plays for Australia.
Prince Mulenga finished with a respectable 5 points out of 9 games. His overall position was joint 5th but 49th out of 156 players. Prince Mulenga boosted his Elo rating by an impressive 32 points!
WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova v Prince Mulenga
Prince Mulenga va GM Temur Kuybokarov
Results
GM Maxim Matlakov of Russia was the winner of the event with 7 points. Six other players also had 7 points, but he had a higher tie-break.
GM Adly Ahmed of Egypt was the top player from Africa. He obtained 6.5 points to end up in joint 2nd place but 9th overall.
GM Bellahcene Bilel of Algeria ended up with 5.5 points and in 33rd position.
IM Tissir Mohamed of Morocco also ended up with 5.5 points and in 39th position.
FM Essa Naseem Ahmed of South Africa ended up with 4 points and in the 92nd position.
