Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
17 November 2008
Little known debutante, Gorata Sebetso gave Botswana their first win in the 2008 Olympiad in Dresden, Germany last Friday when she beat her Yemeni opponent in the second round.
The win helped the Botswana female team to a meritorious 2-2 draw against highly rated Yemen. Fide Master (FM) Boikhutso Mudongo and Tshepiso Lopang drew with their Yemeni opponents while Ontiretse Sabure lost as Botswana women recovered from a first round 4-0 loss to Albania. While Sebetso was making her debut in the Olympiad, Mudongo, Sabure and Lopang have been competing at the event since 2002.
Meanwhile,the Botswana men's team opened the 2008 Olympiad in Dresden, Germany brightly on Friday with a 4-0 demolition of Ghana but faltered 3-1 in the next round to Indonesia.
Against Ghana, Ignatius Njobvu, FM Phemelo Khetho, Tebogo Pitlagano and Barileng Gaealashwe all won in their respective boards. Botswana's bright spot against Indonesia was Khetho's heroics that earned the win in the 3-1 setback.
On Saturday, Botswana women played Estonia while the women took on Iran in third round matches. Iran's players are all rated over 2100 by world chess federation - Fide. The Botswana women's team is ranked 105 in the world.
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