A Striking picture of Zambian IM Gillian Bwalya also known as ‘Captain Charlie‘ at the 2018 Namibia Chess Open that was held in Windhoek. Gillian Bwalya subsequently walked out of Khomas Highland plateau, exultantly, adding to his many glorious and green collections of chess awards .
An exciting chess gladiator on the board, Captain Charlie’s play is grand. His often deviation from the main book lines makes a wide appeal of his playing style in his native country of Zambia. The practicality of trying to prepare for this nonconformist and capricious player is same as delivering sand to the Sahara desert or ice to the Alaska mountains.
A highly risk and daring player, unrivaled and in his own accord, Gillian usually suffocates his prey like the Python. Offering booby traps to his opponent just to lure them into his territory to deliver a final blow is particularly his forte.
To the newbies, Gillian Bwalya becomes even more merciless often making his opponent’s king to wander off all over the board, searching for a safe haven that practically does not exist. “Gillian Bwalya ‘smells’ fear of these inexperienced chess athletes and he uses that to demolish them like the walls of Syria were falling during the civil war” stated a Zambian chess player who sought anonymity.
