Amon's mother died before his second birthday. While growing up Simutowe played football. He had originally set his dreams on being a striker for the Zambian national football team after playing at the youth level.
He was introduced to chess by his brother Solomon at the age of ten. After two months, his interest shifted completely to chess and he played against his brother every day. At first his father was concerned about Amon spending too much time playing chess as he imagined it would distract him from his academic interests. Simutowe's brother saw a healthy appetite growing in his younger brother and sent him chess books and magazines.[4]
He would later state in an interview on why he chose chess over football: "I didn't have anyone to blame in chess for my losses and I didn't have to wait until I was 18 to compete nationally." Simutowe won his first tournament at age 12. In 1994 he entered his first of three local tournaments. "I really didn't do very well, but was praised as the best young player… under 16", said Simutowe.
International Master to Grandmasteredit
In 1995 Simutowe won the nation's under-21 championship and took fifth place at the African Junior Championship. In 1996 he won the Zambian Chess Championship as well as the Zambian Junior National Championship. When reflecting upon his results in 1996, Amon stated "I didn't expect to win this tournament... I was just interested in qualifying for the Olympiad."[5] He qualified but the Zambian National team was unable to compete in the Olympiads. In 1997 Simutowe won the African Junior Chess Championship.
He earned the IM title at the 1998 African Zonal (zone 4.3) with the required 66% score and later went on to win the first of his two African Junior Championships in 1999 by 12/13 followed by an 11/11 score in 2000 during which he earned the moniker, "The Zambezi Shark" and became famous for repeatedly defeating his competition in Fischer-like fashion, winning tournaments by large margins. He also carried the Zambian flag abroad in the 2000 under-16 championship and beat Iran's Ehsan Ghaem Maghami who would later become a Grandmaster.
He then scored several notable tournament victories, including a tie for second place at the 2000 World Junior Chess Championships in Armenia where he scored 8½/13. He scored 6½/11 in the British Championship including a beautiful win against IM Colin Crouch.[6] He represented Zambia at the 2000 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey and scored 8/10 on board one.[5] For his effort, he earned a silver medal, two GM norms (2000 Olympiad, 2000 African Championships) toward the three to become an International Grandmaster and was named Zambia's "Sportsman of the Year" in 2001.[7]
In 2002, he moved to the United States to pursue higher education after being awarded a chess scholarship. While a student at UTD, he helped the chess team win two national collegiate championships.
After earning a degree in finance and economics with high honours in December 2006, he embarked on a path to earn his final Grandmaster norm. After playing a number of tournaments in the U.S., he travelled to the Netherlands to compete in the 2007 Euwe Stimulus tournament, where he earned his third GM norm, and was awarded the International Grandmaster title.[8]
Amon Simutowe player profile and games at Chessgames.com
The Chess Drum: Profile of Amon Simutowe
Chessbase: Euwe Stimulans: Simutowe wins and completes GM norms
Chessbase :The GM Journey of Amon Simutowe
Muvitv : Zambia scores the first african chess grand master as sensation Simutowe reaps crown[permanent dead link]
Blackstarnews : Amon – The Chess King
January 01, 1970
amon, simutowe, this, biography, living, person, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, adding, reliable, sources, contentious, material, about, living, persons, that, unsourced, poorly, sourced, must, removed, immediately, from, article, ta. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page especially if potentially libelous Find sources Amon Simutowe news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2010 Learn how and when to remove this message Amon Simutowe born January 6 1982 is a Zambian chess grandmaster He is the first grandmaster from sub Saharan Africa 1 and the third black chess grandmaster in history after Maurice Ashley 2 and Pontus Carlsson 3 He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master of Science in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford Amon SimutoweAmon Simutowe Warsaw 2013CountryZambiaBorn 1982 01 06 January 6 1982 age 42 Mbala ZambiaTitleGrandmaster 2009 FIDE rating2449 May 2024 Peak rating2486 April 2009 Contents 1 Childhood and early career 2 International Master to Grandmaster 3 References 4 External linksChildhood and early career editAmon s mother died before his second birthday While growing up Simutowe played football He had originally set his dreams on being a striker for the Zambian national football team after playing at the youth level He was introduced to chess by his brother Solomon at the age of ten After two months his interest shifted completely to chess and he played against his brother every day At first his father was concerned about Amon spending too much time playing chess as he imagined it would distract him from his academic interests Simutowe s brother saw a healthy appetite growing in his younger brother and sent him chess books and magazines 4 He would later state in an interview on why he chose chess over football I didn t have anyone to blame in chess for my losses and I didn t have to wait until I was 18 to compete nationally Simutowe won his first tournament at age 12 In 1994 he entered his first of three local tournaments I really didn t do very well but was praised as the best young player under 16 said Simutowe International Master to Grandmaster editIn 1995 Simutowe won the nation s under 21 championship and took fifth place at the African Junior Championship In 1996 he won the Zambian Chess Championship as well as the Zambian Junior National Championship When reflecting upon his results in 1996 Amon stated I didn t expect to win this tournament I was just interested in qualifying for the Olympiad 5 He qualified but the Zambian National team was unable to compete in the Olympiads In 1997 Simutowe won the African Junior Chess Championship He earned the IM title at the 1998 African Zonal zone 4 3 with the required 66 score and later went on to win the first of his two African Junior Championships in 1999 by 12 13 followed by an 11 11 score in 2000 during which he earned the moniker The Zambezi Shark and became famous for repeatedly defeating his competition in Fischer like fashion winning tournaments by large margins He also carried the Zambian flag abroad in the 2000 under 16 championship and beat Iran s Ehsan Ghaem Maghami who would later become a Grandmaster He then scored several notable tournament victories including a tie for second place at the 2000 World Junior Chess Championships in Armenia where he scored 8 13 He scored 6 11 in the British Championship including a beautiful win against IM Colin Crouch 6 He represented Zambia at the 2000 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul Turkey and scored 8 10 on board one 5 For his effort he earned a silver medal two GM norms 2000 Olympiad 2000 African Championships toward the three to become an International Grandmaster and was named Zambia s Sportsman of the Year in 2001 7 In 2002 he moved to the United States to pursue higher education after being awarded a chess scholarship While a student at UTD he helped the chess team win two national collegiate championships After earning a degree in finance and economics with high honours in December 2006 he embarked on a path to earn his final Grandmaster norm After playing a number of tournaments in the U S he travelled to the Netherlands to compete in the 2007 Euwe Stimulus tournament where he earned his third GM norm and was awarded the International Grandmaster title 8 In 2009 he won the South African Open 9 References edit Johnson Scott Dreaming of Checkmate The Daily Beast Archived from the original on October 9 2012 Retrieved August 15 2012 Maurice Ashley International Grandmaster Official Website Archived from the original on December 2 2012 The Chess Drum Archive for November 2008 Zambian With Little Training Stands Poised To Make History a b Shabazz Daaim July 23 2001 The Talking Drum featuring Amon Simutowe The Chess Drum Retrieved January 25 2017 Amon Simutowe Colin Crouch MSO Ron Banwell mem 2000 Zambia s Sports Council selects IM Simutowe as its top Sportsman Zambezi Shark at Euwe GM tourney The Week in Chess 766 The Week In Chess Mark Crowther Retrieved January 17 2015 External links editAmon Simutowe rating card at FIDE Amon Simutowe player profile and games at Chessgames com The Chess Drum Profile of Amon Simutowe Chessbase Euwe Stimulans Simutowe wins and completes GM norms Chessbase The GM Journey of Amon Simutowe Muvitv Zambia scores the first african chess grand master as sensation Simutowe reaps crown permanent dead link Blackstarnews Amon The Chess King Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Amon Simutowe amp oldid 1213935511, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
