St. Monica off to World Schools Chess Championships

National champions, St. Monica Girls High school departed today for Aktau Kazakhstan to participate in the World Schools Chess Championships scheduled from 3 -8 August 2023.

The inaugural event has attracted a record 73 teams from all over the world.

St. Monica were picked after emerging the best during this year’s Kenya National Youth Chess Championships held in Kisii.

The tournament attracted 3246 participants comprising 2089 boys and 1157 Girls (Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 for Open and Girl's categories) drawn from all parts of the country.

St. Monica’s Girls High School entered 30 students in various categories and emerged the best overall in secondary category for the second year running.

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Their performance had huge significance to demystify popular myth held that boys do better in chess than girls.

For several years, the national title had been held by boys’ schools such as Alliance Boys (2018), St. Joseph Boys Kitale (2019) and St. Patrick's Iten (2021,2022).

The school that wins has the huge responsibility of flying the national flag in international events.

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The team comprises five players and two teachers.

The players include: Maysie Andia (Under 16 Girls) ,Purity Cherotich (Under 18 Girls), Faith Chemtai (Under 16 Girls), Mary Wothaya (Under 16 Girls), and Deborah Cherotich (Under 16 Girls).

They are accompanied by their teacher, Christine Makokha (team captain) and Grace Oyugi (school principal)

The team was hosted for breakfast before being taken to the airport for departure at 13.35 Kenyan time to Almaty, Kazakhstan before making a connecting flight to Aktau tomorrow at 11am.

The trip has been jointly sponsored by Chess Kenya, World Chess Federation (FIDE) and NOC-K.