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. He represented Zambia at the 2000 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey and scored 8/10 on board one. 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.