New Junior Chess League to be introduced in Nairobi
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 25.12.24. | 13:49
The league will run from May 10 to June 28 and will be a team event played twice a month
The newly registered Nairobi County Chess Association (NCA) has introduced a junior league that will begin next year.
The league will run from May 10 to June 28 and will be a team event played twice a month.
According to Nairobi County Association chairman Anthony Kionga the introduction of the junior league is part of their efforts to help young players get used to playing longer games.
“Whenever our players go for international tournaments they always begin at a disadvantage because we don’t have so many classical tournaments in Kenya.
We want to change this by introducing a consistent junior league that will give our players the required preparations to do well,” he said.
Kionga also announced that for the first time as of next year, they will hold separate qualifiers for cadets and youth players preparing to play in the Kenya National Youth Chess Championships (KNYC).
“We have seen an increase in the number of players both in the youth and cadet categories and to ensure that we have quality qualifiers, we have decided to hold separate tournaments so that we are able to finish on time and also ensure that only the very best make it to the nationals,” he explained.
The youth qualifiers will be held on March 15 with the cadet players competing a week later.
The association will also host two Grand Prix events that will be part of tournaments used to select players for the senior national teams.
They include the Karen Open Rapids and Blitz Championships to be held on February 1 and 2 and the Nairobi County Open and Blitz Championships to be held from May 30 to June 2.
For the first time, the association will host a co-operate chess league that will be open to company employees. It will run from May 3 to August 30 and will be played twice a month.
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