This game featured two of the pre-eminent young talents of Africa. You may be thinking of Egyptian duo GMs Ahmed Adly and Bassem Amin, but there are two others in GM-elect Amon Simutowe of Zambia and IM Robert Gwaze of Zimbabwe. While Adly and Amin were on the fast track to their GM titles, Simutowe has famously earned his 3rd GM norm and Gwaze is known best for his 9-0 romp at the 2002 Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia.

All of them have won the African Junior Championship and have earned their share of success, but it would be Gwaze who would shine in the recent African Chess Championships in Windhoek, Namibia. Gwaze would go on to win the tournament and qualify for the World Cup tournament in Elista, Russia. It will be the first time for the Zimbabwe and he will be joined by five other African players.

Gwaze has served as a trainer for the past few years in Singapore and had not played in a tournament in two years prior to this tournament. He met Simutowe in round five after a 4-0 start. In this encounter with his contemporary from Zambia, Gwaze played with tremendous "reckless abandon" and sacrificed his queen in the heat of battle. While the sack may not have been accurate one has to admire his wisdom for playing it at such a tense moment in the game.