Big names headline Bungoma Open Chess Championships
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 20.11.24. | 15:04
Being the last event before the Kenya National Chess Championships kicks off, all top players have confirmed taking part
Local chess action resumes this weekend with the Bungoma Open Chess Championships.
This is the inaugural event organised by the Bungoma Chess Association which has laid out an attractive prize fund of Ksh100,000.
Being the last event before the Kenya National Chess Championships kicks off, all top players have confirmed taking part as they prepare for the upcoming national event.
Two-time national champion Mehul Gohil will headline the event as he insists that winning the tournament has always given him the impetus to win the national championships.
“When I won the last national championship, I had just come from winning in Bungoma and so I see it as an event that holds good luck for me,” he said ahead of the event.
Apart from Mehul, current national champion Joseph Methu will also be looking to win the event as he prepares to defend his title this year.
Methu is yet to win any open event this year but has finished in the prize bracket on at least two occasions during the Mombasa Open and Nairobi Open.
In the ladies category, national champion Joyce Nyaruai from KCB will be the biggest name in Bungoma.
After missing out on the Nakuru Open due to league engagements, Nyaruai is the favourite to triumph in Bungoma.
She will however have to contest Sasha Mongeli who won the Nakuru Open and Equity Bank’s Julie Mutisya who has been a podium finisher in the last three Open events.
At the international level, Kenyan players are finding it difficult both at the World Cadet Chess Championships and African Junior events.
At the World Cadets being held in Italy, African champion Jadon Simiyu remains the highest-ranked Kenyan with just two points after five matches.
Simiyu who lost his second match in a row is placed 88th out of 158 participants.
European participants are dominating with Frenchman Lacaan Rus David leading with maximum points. He is followed by Radzimski Antoni from Poland who has collected 4.5 points. Golobovic Eric from Croatia is third with 4 points.
In Egypt, all the two Kenyan players lost their matches at the African Junior Chess Championships.
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