International Master Arthur Ssegwanyi pulled off one of the biggest shockers in the game of chess after he stunned Indian Grandmaster Gupta Abhijeet at the Henry Chilufya Memorial Chess tournament – the GM Norm tourney – in Zambia on Sunday.
Having expectedly lost to the Egyptian GM Adly Ahmed in the fifth round, it was hard to imagine that Ssegwanyi would upset a former World Junior Chess Champion, and a four-time [record] Commonwealth Chess Champion in Gupta.
Although their chess pedigree couldn’t be any more different, the IM’s solid play left the GM flabbergasted.
With Ssegwanyi losing to lowly rated players at the start of the tournament, and with his rating performance reading below his FIDE rating of 2373, no one envisaged a win for the Ugandan IM, but clearly he had his mind set to making some history as he secured his first ever win against a GM.
Gupta had been performing above his rating and was aiming at his fourth win in Zambia only for him to meet the shock of his life on board four in the sixth round as he became the first GM to go down against a lowly rated player in Zambia.
Ssegwanyi became the first player at the event to gun down a GM. The Indian had already lost prior the round, but it was against his fellow GM Adly. That victory elevated Segwanyi’s RP to 2408.
While Ssegwanyi was relishing his Sunday, it was far from merry for his compatriot FM Harold Wanyama. Wanyama lost both his games to IM Gilian Bwalya and IM Phiri Richmond in the fifth and sixth round respectively.
The two losses made it four thus far for the FM.
The struggle continues for both Ugandans as they face only GMs on Monday. Ssegwanyi faces Russian GM Petr Kiriakov and Greenfeld Alon from Israel in the seventh and eighth round respectively while Wanyama meets Adly and Gupta.