Joseph Mwale at KZN open 2015
Joseph has the distinction of being Africa's youngest ever national champion. His father taught
him and his brothers George and Chuma the moves. Joseph was born in Malawi, where he is a many
times national champion, with his first title win at the tender age of 13 years old. He has been
the highest rated Malawian on the FIDE rating list for some years, but has only represented Malawi
at the Olympiad in 2012 and in 2018.
Joseph Mwale tied first in the 2015 Durban championship and was also the KZN champion in 2015.
He won the Durban championship outright in 2016, but was unsuccessful in defending his KZN title.
He subsequently moved to Tshwane, where he has won numerous tournaments.
Joseph won the 2015 KZN open championship. A more detailed report on this tournament,
including several annotated games, appears on my
KZN news blog.
Joseph has a sharp tactical style. One of his best games was his sacrificial miniature, played
in March 2015 against Cyril Danisa, which was first annotated on my
KZN news blog.
Here is the game:
[Event "GCC Autumn Swiss"]
[Site "Durban"]
[Date "2015.03.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Mwale, Joseph"]
[Black "Danisa, Cyril T"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1997"]
[BlackElo "1754"]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d6 3.Bg2 c5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Qb6 $2 {asking for trouble} 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Be3 $1 Ng4
(7...Qxb2 {looks greedy but is difficult to refute} 8.Ncb5 (8.Ndb5 Qb4 9.Nc7+ Kd8 10.Nxa8 Qxc3+
11.Bd2 Qc4 12.0-0) 8...Kd7 9.Nb3 Qe5 10.c4) 8.Nd5 Qd8 9.Nb5 $1 Nxe3 10.Nbc7+ Kd7 11.fxe3 Rb8
12.Bh3+ e6 13.0-0 Ne5 (13...f5 14.Nxe6 $1 Kxe6 15.Rxf5 {and discovered check soon mates})
{Diagram [#]} 14.Rxf7+ $3 {played quickly, the Rook sac wins by force} 14...Nxf7 15.Bxe6+ Kc6
16.c4 (16.Qd3 $1 {then Qc3+ was even quicker} 16...b5 17.Qc3+ Kb7 18.Qa5 Kc6 19.Nb4+ Kc5 20.Bd5 $18)
(16.Bxf7 {was also possible} 16...Bh3 17.Qd4 $18) 16...Bxe6 17.Qa4+ b5 18.cxb5+ Kd7 19.b6+ Kc8
20.Nxe6 Qxb6 (20...Rxb6 21.Rc1+ Kb8 22.Nxd8 $18) 21.Nxb6+ (21.Nxb6+ Rxb6 22.Rc1+ Kb8 23.Qe8+) 1-0