Gohil, Nyaruai launch Kenya National Chess Championship title defence
Woman Candidate Master Joyce Nyaruai takes notes during the 2023 Kenya National Chess Championship at Charter Hall in Nairobi on December 26, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The first and second runners-up in the Ladies Section will receive Sh50,000 and Sh25,000 each.
- The KNCC is the first phase of the national team selection.
Defending champions Mehul Gohil and Joyce Nyaruai won their respective round one matches as the 2023 Kenya National Chess Championship (KNCC) got underway at Charter Hall in Nairobi on Tuesday.
More than 250 participants are gracing this year’s event, where the Open Section’s winner will drive away in a brand new Nissan Note car on Saturday.
The Ladies Section’s champion will pocket Sh100,000, while the winners in the Persons with Disability Open and Ladies Sections will receive Sh5,000 each.
Gohil is chasing his third car of the competition by defending his Open Section title. The three-time winner was awarded a brand new Mazda Demio car in 2019 and 2022 for topping in the Open Section after nine rounds of matches.
Nyarua, a Woman Candidate Master (WCM), is out to win the Ladies Section title for the third time after triumphing in 2017 and 2022.
Gohil, ranked fifth with a Fide rating of 1966, began his title defence campaign with victory over Nigel Oddiaga (1317).
The defending champion was to face Tom Amwai (1593) last evening. To be crowned the 2022 Open Section winner, Gohil defeated Kitale-based player Hugh Misiko in the final play-off – Armageddon - after they drew 1-1 in both rapid and blitz play-offs.
The two players had tied at the top on eight points after nine rounds of matches.
But Misiko defeated Gohil in the fifth round of the competition.
Chess Kenya has changed the rules of the competition with a tie-breaker for the overall winner of both Open and Ladies Section only to be applied if the two tied players had not met in the nine rounds or the results of their first encounter ended in a draw.
Some of the other big guns who won their round one matches yesterday are top seed Kenneth Omolo (2088), Fide Master Martin Gateri (2048), Candidate Master Ben Magana (1995) and Joseph Methu (1986).
In the Ladies Section, Nyaruai (1718) defeated Hera Ngani (1057), while Woman Fide Master Sasha Mongeli (1724) outwitted Brenda Chagaya (1133).
Olympians Glenda Madelta and Jully Mutisya also won their respective matches.
The first and second runners-up in the Open Section will receive Sh100,000 and Sh50,000, respectively. The cash awards in the Open Section have been extended up to the 10th place finisher, while in the Ladies Section, only the top five participants will get the cash awards.
The first and second runners-up in the Ladies Section will receive Sh50,000 and Sh25,000 each.
The KNCC is the first phase of the national team selection.
