The FIDE Zonal 4.4 Chess Championships are being held in Accra, Ghana. Round 1 got underway and saw all the favourites win except for on boards 12 and 15 where the unrated players from Liberia upset their opponents with a win.
As mentioned in the first report on the zonal championship, Liberia is new member to FIDE with provisional status at the moment and waiting for general assembly approval. So the players that scored a win were Haji Kiadii Charles on board 12 with the black pieces. The other player having a win was Thomas Saah on board 15 with the white pieces.
Round two already sees some very tough match ups with the battle of the 2 IM’s on board 3 and most of the top seeds playing each other already. It’s good to see there were no draws in the first round and fighting spirit was shown. The women’s section still has not started but I have contacted one of the arbiter’s of the event and he has confirmed that the date is still not confirmed. More news to come.
Jamie Kenmure
