Ssegwanyi in early lead as fifth round starts
KAMPALA.
Uganda’s Fide Master (FM) Arthur Ssegwanyi took an early lead of four points on Monday in the ongoing Africa Zone 4.2 Individual Chess championship at City Oil, Kamwokya.
However, with five rounds left to play in the championship, there is still work to do and yesterday’s rest day away in Jinja couldn’t have come at a better time for the players.
Ssegwanyi, who comes up against International Master (IM) Elijah Emojong (three points) this morning on board one, beat one of the pre-tournament favourites, Egypt’s International Master (IM) Abdelrahman Hesham, in the fourth round, to remain the only unbeaten player at the meet.
Prior to that, Ssegwanyi had beaten fellow Ugandan and Candidate Master (CM) Patrick Kawuma (2.5 points), who only entered the tourney because there were a few participants. Kawuma went on to show his mental strength in the fourth round as he held Egyptian Grandmaster (GM) El Gindy Essam, in a close contest.
Today, he takes on FM Harold Wanyama in a familiar local duel.
El Gindy plays another Ugandan Raphael Buti (three points), who has steadily grown into the competition after losing on day one, on board two today. Hesham also takes on local Olympian Mathias Ssonko (three points) on board three.