Kisumu’s Victoria Club to take on big boys of chess

Kisumu-based Victoria Chess Club is determined to break Nairobi's dominance in the sport as it seeks to become the premier chess academy in western Kenya.

Studies have shown that the game of chess has many benefits for young minds including good memory power, improved concentration, innovation and creativity something that the club believes they want to inculcate in young minds in the province.

With 15 trainers on their payroll, the club run by Andrew Owili is quickly becoming popular with students from the leading learning institutions in Kisumu.

The club was formed in 2014. “At the beginning there were a lot of challenges like lack of facilities, place to practice, experienced players to help us training properly as well as lack of competition nearby,” explains Owili.

But two months after being formed, the club was given a home at Scottish Tartan Hotel from where they would be holding training sessions.

“Out of the passion to promote the game locally, we would occasionally go to schools and train the students. After two years of training kids in  schools, we made applications to schools -to train their kids on a regular basis at a fee,” says Owili.

The club received positive feedback from Makini School and Jalaram Academy to conduct regular sessions at the learning institutions at a fee. Initially starting with 20 children, these grew in leaps and bounds.

From initially training 20 children, the numbers increased to 1,000 after another school, Kimberly Hills Academy came on board to join Makini where the number of children signing went up significantly.

Apart from impacting the life of young learners, Owili explains that their programs have also been greatly beneficial to local coaches who use their earnings to pay school fees for themselves.

“We have had some university students join the program as coaches and use the money to pay school fees. If it were not for this program, some of them would have dropped out of school,” he says.

The club has also brought on board four time Kenyan champion, Ben Magana, whose input has benefitted the students and trainers immensely.

Also in the team is Steve Okeyo, a local chess Champion who has made the program even better.

From three clubs, the club has managed to bring on board CITAM School Kisumu, Kisumu Senior School, Aga Khan Nursery School, Disciples of Mercy School and Victoria Preparatory School.

They also occasionally work with Kisumu Boys High School, Kisumu Girls High School, Lions High School and Nyabeda Mixed Secondary School in Siaya County.