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Sports Reporter
CASTRO Sibanda of Nust Chess Club collected his 11th gold medal at a Bulawayo Chess Association (BCA) organised competition when he won the 2017 BCA Milton Open Chess Tournament held at Milton High School on Saturday.

The competition had 170 participants battling in eight sections, with Sibanda winning the Elite Open after garnering 6 out of 7 points.

Sibanda won all the first six rounds and could afford to lose the last round and still come first. His last round loss was delivered by eventual runner-up Patrice Sibanda of ZRP Bulawayo Chess Club.

Sibanda was marginally ahead of club mate Tarcisio Chikandi who finished third.

They both had 5.5, and were only separated by Buchholz, which is a sum of the scores of each of the opponents of a player. There were 35 players in the Elite Open.

These results cemented The General’s dominance in Bulawayo as he has won 10 other tournaments since the first BCA Tournament in 2012. BCA has to date run 43 tournaments.

Meanwhile, BCA chairman Elvis Shora said they will soon have capacity development programmes in the city targeting primary school teachers as they want to lay a “strong grassroots foundation”.

“We have many training programmes that we have lined up for all educators at primary schools in Bulawayo. Ultimately as BCA we want many teachers to get Fide qualifications both in Chess Arbitration and Chess Coaching. But the Fide exams are very tough. In Bulawayo we only have two qualified Fide Arbiters, Moses Mutipforo and Thabang Moyo.

“We want to increase that number. So our plan is to commence workshops in order to prepare them for the exams,” Shora said.

Milton Chess Winners

Open Section: Castro Sibanda (Nust Chess Club)
Ladies Section: Tessa Gumiremhete (ZRP Bulawayo Chess Club

Junior A Section, (Form 4 to 6)
Boys: Nigel Katso (Gifford)
Girls: Belinda Mugova (Girls College)

Junior B Section, (Form 1 to 3)
Boys: Leeroy Mpala (Willineta Chess Club)
Girls: Tadiwanashe Kausiyo (Montrose)

Development Section A, (Over 9 years)
Boys: Desai Masuku (Tennyson Primary)
Girls: Veronah Mudumo (Baines Junior)

Development Section B, (Under 9 years)
Girls: Faith Moyounotswa