Audio By Carbonatix
So, lesse — yesterday we featured a Zimbabwe-born Brookhaven College student about to become the biggest thing in rugby, and today we have a Zambian-born University of Texas at Dallas grad about to become the biggest thing in chess. How international of us — as in Newsweek International, which this week has a profile of Amon Simutowe, a 25-year-old international master who has dozens of titles to his credit, including two collegiate championships won during his stint at UTD.
Simutowe, designated for at least one more year as a Texan on his U.S. Chess Federation membership, attended UTD on a chess scholarship, and he graduated with high honors and degrees in finance and economics. But whether or not he’ll use his degrees is another story at the moment: Reports Newsweek, “Zambian officials are reportedly considering awarding Simutowe … a diplomatic passport to encourage him to become a global ambassador for African chess.” For no reason other than it’s absolutely hypnotizing, I am going to spend the rest of the day watching a computer re-enact 170 of Simutowe’s games. –Robert Wilonsky
