Mikia Kalati
LESOTHO chess player, Tokelo Klaas, has been awarded a candidate master title after a good display at the recently ended Chess Olympiad in Batumi Georgia.
Klaas was part of the Lesotho delegation at the chess global showpiece and joins four other local players who have already been awarded the master title including Joang Molapo, who is the minister of Public Service, but was not part of the team in Georgia.
Klaas was the most outstanding among the Lesotho team that had 10 players and bagged five victories out of the 10 games that he played at the two weeks long tournament.
In the open section, Lesotho played against Tajikistan, Syria, Congo, Brune, Namibia, Swaziland, Guam, Kosovo, Honduras, Naum and Guernsey.
The Lesotho team also played against countries such a New Zealand, Sao Tome and Principe, Portugal, Nepal, Rwanda, Iraq, Paraguay and Angola.
Team captain team Selatela told this publication that they are not entirely pleased with their performance in Georgia but said there is room for improvement.
“We did not have the best of performances at the tournament but it was a good learning curve for our team,” Selatela said.
“We didn’t get all our prayers answered but one other significant one was. Tokelo Klaas, one of Lesotho’s best players at the tournament and has been awarded a candidate master title.
“We would like to thank all those who helped us make this trip a success. We thank Lesotho Sports and Recreation Commission and Basutholand Ink for sponsoring the team. We thank Beltex and most importantly, we thank our patron CM Joang Malapo. He has done a great deal for chess in Lesotho. He also helped prepare the team,” Selatela said.
