It was heartbreak on Sunday as Ugandan chess duo of Fide Master Harold Wanyama and Peninah Nakabo missed out on the medal slots at the ongoing African Games in Ghana.
Following a 12th finish in the Mixed Team Rapid on Saturday, the pair took to the board in the individual events on Sunday, with the former competing at the Men’s Rapid and the latter at the Women’s.
Wanyama who won a bronze medal in this same competition in 2019 had hoped to emulate or better that performance!
He lost the first round to Egypt’s Grandmaster Amin Bassem, but after his four subsequent wins, the FM gave himself a chance of returning home with another medal, however, lost the final round to Algeria’s International Master Arab Adlane.
Having beaten South Africa’s FM Caleb Levi Levitan and Mozambique’s Candidate Master Paiva Donaldo in the 4th and 5th round respectively, Wanyama entered the final round placed second, trailing only Bassem, and needing only a draw to earn a silver medal. But a blunder, in endgame proved costly.
Speaking to this website after the game, Wanyama who ended up finishing two places outside the top three bemoaned the error.
He said: “I blundered a drawn game, endgame was drawn. I just needed to be calm, but I was under some pressure. It is painful, but I will recover.”
Wanyama’s lone teammate in Ghana, Nakabo ended the event in a similar story. After winning three of her first five games, Nakabo went into the final round placed in the medal bracket. But she failed to navigate her way past Kenya’s Woman Fide Master Sasha Mongeli.
The result meant Nakabo- a debutant at these games finished the event placed 6th.
Despite the heartbreak, positives were picked from this particular event. Wanyama is currently rated 2117, but his performance rating at this competition reads 2305 while Nakabo whose rating reads 1768 is performing at 1977.
The two will continue their search for a medal on Monday when both the Men’s Blitz and Women’s Blitz take center stage.
