Coach Ssegwanyi hopeful ahead of continental chess tourney
Ugandan International Master (IM) Arthur Ssegwanyi explains a point during an interview at Chess Kenya offices in Nairobi on January 31,2021.
What you need to know:
- It will take place in nine rounds with the player who garners most points being declared the champion. On Sunday, a rehearsal was held where the players familiarised themselves with tomelo, the website where the contest will take place.
- According to Ssegwanyi, some of the areas they have been working on include; solving, positions and puzzles. He hoped that the training would provide a smooth transition for the junior players into the senior team.
Ugandan International Master (IM) Arthur Ssegwanyi wants all Kenya’s representatives at the Africa Online Individual Chess Championships that starts Monday to “outperform their ratings.”
Ssegwanyi, 32, has been sharpening the 10 players (six men and four women) since Thursday in readiness for the championship, which will come to an end on February 7.
IM is the second most coveted title in chess after the Grandmaster and for Ssegwanyi received the title in 2015 after winning the Zone 4.2 Individual Championship.
Speaking to Nation Sport on Sunday at Chess Kenya offices in Nairobi, Ssegwanyi exuded confidence that the national team will perform well in the continental contest.
“Kenya is one of the most organised teams in this championship and I expect that the team will outperform the expectations. With chess, the rating is always an indication of what you are expected to score, so if you see them outperforming their rating, then they are doing better than expected. That is what I expect to happen,” said Ssegwanyi.
Chess Kenya president Benard Wanjala had earlier told Nation Sport that they opted to fly in Ssegwanyi to help fine tune the players, so that they start the year brightly by registering a good performance in the competition.
Six of the 10 top players selected for the competition are those who since last year have been training hard for the cancelled 2020 World Chess Olympiad.
They are Woman Candidate Master Joyce Nyaruai, Ricky Sang and Jackson Kamau all of KCB Chess Club. The rest are Woman Fide Master Sasha Mongeli (Nakuru Chess Club), Lucy Wanjiru (Anchor Chess Club) and Glenda Matelda (Equity Chess Club).
They will be joined by KCB’s Martin Njoroge and Filip Singe, Robert Macligeo (Makini School) and Mehul Gohil (Nairobi Chess Club). Macligeo and Singe will feature in the Under-20 and 50 categories respectively. Candidate Master Ben Magana and Moses Andiwoh will captain the men’s and women’s team respectively.
The players will know their opponents on Monday morning before the competition starts at 4pm EAT.
It will take place in nine rounds with the player who garners most points being declared the champion. On Sunday, a rehearsal was held where the players familiarised themselves with tomelo, the website where the contest will take place.
According to Ssegwanyi, some of the areas they have been working on include; solving, positions and puzzles. He hoped that the training would provide a smooth transition for the junior players into the senior team.
