After almost a year in oblivion, James Kamowa returned to the limelight on 9th October 2011 at the College of Medicine (CoM) in Blantyre where he outclassed a 12-member group of local chess heavyweights to win the second edition title of the Lab Enterprises Chess Championships.
With 4.5 points from six games during the two-day finals, Kamowa did not only manage to win the Lab chess crown for the fifth time since 2007, but also prevented Alfred Chimthere from becoming the first player to defend the men’s A category title in the last five events.
Former champions Kajani Kaunda, Chuma Mwale, Gerald Mphungu and Chimthere accumulated four points each, but after a buccholz tie-breaker, the four shared the second, third, fourth and fifth positions respectively.
Other prominent players Joseph Mwale, Joseph Nyambalo and candidate master Chiletso Chipanga found this particular contest a hard nut to crack as they were thrown to the undesirable sixth, seventh and ninth positions in that order.
“I think this, is my best achievement ever. The competition was extremely tough and emerging a winner among such good players is quite satisfying,” said Kamowa.
Raymond Chitedze won the men’s B category with five points while John Mkumba and Shadreck Mhone amassed four points each to take the second and third slots respectively. Vitumbiko Gondwe won the accolade in the ladies section with six points followed by former champion Ellen Mpinganjira [five points] and Caroline Mwale [four points].
Southern Region Chess League (SRCL) chairperson Susan Namangale and Chess Association of Malawi (Chessam) honorary member Joseph Chalemba thanked Lab Enterprises for the support since 2007.
The company’s representative Chancy Mangata hinted that the sponsorship might be increased next year.