Musa Munyere is a Candidate Master in waiting following a great performance at the Africa Youth Chess Championships last month in Namibia. The 13-year-old Setlalekgosi Junior School Student managed to win a bronze medal in the Under 14 category after registering six wins, one draw and two losses. Having just started chess in in 2018 Munyere‘s improvement up the ladder is so fast and he promises to be one of the young players who will dominate the chess boards this year.
His achievement made him a CM elect, a title which he will obtain when he reaches the minimum rating of 2000 that’s when the title will be officially approved .Munyere, who is also the product of the Francistown School of Chess, currently has a good rating of 1642 which means his chances of reaching the 2000 mark this year as long as he will be kept busy with tournaments. Munyere’s great performance at the Africa Youth Chess Champs is a great milestone considering that the competition was his first major tournament and he was not playing as part of the national team since he was self-sponsored.
According to his trainer Thapelo Molefe, the young boy has been showing great potential from the early days when they started training together.
“Musa is a calm player who combines both tactical and positional understanding of the game. We have a vigorous and an intensified training plan for the boy when he resumes training. We will also travel to neighbouring countries to allow him to compete in more intense environment as we begin the quest of achieving 2000 rating for him,” said Molefe.
Munyere follows in the footsteps of WCM Refilwe Gabatshwarwe who is also on the verge of getting the new title of Woman Fide Master. According to World Chess Federation standards for a player to be directly awarded a title they should have 1800 for WCM, 1900 for WFM ,2000 for WIM and 2100 for WGM title. In the men’s section CM title is awarded at 2000 rating ,FM at 2100 while IM and GM titles are bestowed at 2200 and 2300 respectively.