Gabatshwarwe granted provisional WFM title
Botswana’s chess prodigy, Woman Candidate Master Refilwe Gabatshwarwe, has been granted a provisional Woman Fide Master (WFM) title by the world chess governing body, FIDE.
This follows the youngster’s exploits from the 2022 African Youth Chess Championships that were held in Zambia where Gabatshwarwe scooped silver medal in the under 17 girls category.
Gabatshwarwe’s title is provisional as she is still short of the required rating of 1900 which should give her the title on a full time basis.
As it stands, Gabatshwarwe is rated 1723 and for her to acquire the title fully, she will have to take part in international tournaments and collect the required points.
As a result, Gabatshwarwe becomes the third player to get a notch up and get closer to a new title after Ruth Otisitswe and Gomolemo Rongwane achieved that feat last year post the World Chess Olympiad.
While Otisitswe was given a conditional WCM title since she is yet to reach 1800, Rongwane was given a direct Fide Master title since he had reached 2100 rating.
According to Botswana Chess Federation Secretary General, Mokwaledi Tingwane, Gabatshwarwe will be able to attain her full WFM title once she attains the required rating.
“Provided she doesn’t reach the rating any time soon it will remain conditional. The best way to reach that level is to attend international tournaments unlike local, because there are more chances of gaining points. Of course there are other ways, depending on high profile tournaments. For example, Rongwane had no title going into last year’s Olympiad, yet he came with the FM title. The same could have applied to Refilwe had she had the opportunity to excel in India but unfortunately she wasn’t part of the Olympiad team,” explained Tingwane.
WCM Gabatshwarwe has always showcased her prowess in chess at an early age having won the Metropolitan National Chess Championship at a tender age of 13 before replicating that in 2022 aged 17.
Having been a consistent national team member, the 18 year old Moshupa native has even achieved much, having represented the country at the 2019 Africa Games in Morocco.
“It is something she can achieve in a short period of time but only if she plays elite tournaments and faces high rated players. Locally we don’t have those kind of tournaments and since she is one of the high rated players she attracts lower points when she plays local opponents. Before Covid-19 she played many international tournaments but post that, the number of tournaments played has reduced which might be the challenge,” said Gabatshwarwe’s coach Moroka Moroka.
While she fell short of defending her national title this year, there are other continental tournaments such as the African Individual Chess Championship, Zone 4.5 Individual Chess Championship which also offers Gabatshwarwe the highest titles such as the Woman Grand Master and the Woman International Master, provided she competes and comes out tops.
The minimum required FIDE rating for titles are 2100 for WGM, 2000 for WIM, 1900 and 1800 for WFM and WCM respectively. In the open section Grand Master title is attained at 2300 while International Master goes for 2200, Fide Master, 2100 with the lowest being Candidate Master at 2000.
