MANZINI – Despite swimming with the sharks, he was unable to live up to his standard in the 2023 Chess Championships.
That is the story of eight-year-old champion Knowledge Dlamini, who played in the Under-16 because of his talent and skill in the game. He is too good for his agemates and beats even the seniors. This was in the Chess Open Championship on Saturday at the Sisema Conference Centre, where the tournament was graced by the presence of the Mozambican Chess Federation President, Milton Botao. A total of 58 youth players gathered there and were in the Under-16s, Under-8s and Under-12s playing a six-round format. Those who won the first round met against the other in the second round in all categories.
In one of the matches, Sanjul Ariyawanza, the schools champion, was stunned by Shana du Pont who was able to beat him in less than two minutes. “It feels good that I got a challenge against Sanjul, but that does not give me the surety of making it in the finals,” Shana said. In the third round, the second round winner, Shana, was in a battle with the youngest champion of every tournament, Knowledge, who according to his coaches, is an everyday winner. Knowledge beat Shana as usual. In his post-match comment, he said he played with the Under-16s because he liked the statistics in there. “I like the stats in the Under-16 division,” he said.
It was anticipated that Knowledge would go on to lift the championship in the Under-16 category. However, things went south, as the champion was ranked position five in the finals.
According to Sikhanyiso Sihlongonyane, the Director and Head Coach at Manzini Chess Club, Knowledge being the most anticipated winner in the Under-16 played against Londizwi Dlamini in the fifth round. He was beaten by the Kings Indian defence strategy.