Southern Region Chess League (SRCL) will accommodate players from the Northern Region in the new edition of Lab Enterprise Individual Chess Championship. The quarterly championship is expected to get underway on Saturday. SRCL chairperson Susan Namangale said they decided to extended invitation to the North to allow players from the area to benefit from Lab’s sponsorship.
Previously, the committee was only accommodating players from Central Region. “Top two men players from the Northern and Central regions would be allowed to compete in the Lab finals. We will also invite a top female player from the two respective regions to take part in the finals,” she said. Namangale said the new set up was a move to develop the sport across the country. “You must bear in mind that the sponsorship caters for the Southern Region alone. However, we decided to invite players from other regions to make the games competitive,” she said.
Namangale said the committee has also hiked the registration fee from K250 to K400 because of rise in accommodation costs. Meanwhile, the chairperson said the region’s qualifying games for Lab Enterprise first edition will take place at Malawi College of Medicine on Saturday. “As usual only men will compete in category A and B to reach the finals whereas women would not play qualifying games,” she said. Lab Enterprise has been sponsoring chess since 2007 and the current sponsorship is worthy K500,000. The amount is split into four divisions to cater for four tournaments per year The firm’s executive director Noel Lipipa promised continued support.