Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE prisons’ chess team fell short again of their quest for the title in the second edition of the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners after they failed to top their group and play in the finals on Saturday.
Zimbabwe’s hopes of a place in the final were dashed at the hands of the team that prevented them from landing the title last year, Mongolia to finish fourth in their group. Philippines 2 topped the group that Zimbabwe was in.
Finishing in position four meant that Zimbabwe were also out of the bronze medal contention place as it was competed for by second placed India from Zimbabwe’s group and El Salvador who finished second in the other group.
The Zimbabwean team finished with nine points in the championship groups whilst the top three, Philippines 2, India and Mongolia had 12, 11 and 10 points respectively. Zimbabwe was in group one and the other teams in the group were United Arab Emirates (UAE), Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria 2.
The other group had Colombia, El Salvador, United States of America (USA)- Chicago, England 2, USA- Kansas, Serbia 1, Argentina 4 and Argentina 3.
In the inaugural edition of the tournament last year, Zimbabwean inmates finished in position two after narrowly losing against Mongolia to land the prestigious title and after the defeat on Saturday, team Zimbabwe’s dreams of a world title remain.
The goal of the Intercontinental On-line Chess Championship for Prisoners is to popularise chess as an efficient tool for re-integration of inmates and the two-day tournament was organised under the chess for freedom initiative by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and Cook County Chicago Sherriff Office in the United States of America. – Follow on Twitter @brandon_malvin
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