My journey to arbitrating world chess championships: The story of Rehema

Rehema Khimulu

Rehema Khimulu, 31, has been appointed by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) as one of the arbiters at the 43rd Chess Olympiad, starting tomorrow, September 23, to October 7 in Batumi, Georgia. This is only the second time a Kenyan has been appointed for the role, which is the equivalent of refereeing matches at the FIFA World Cup. She tells her story of how she got here:

“The first time I saw a chessboard, I had no idea what to do with it. I was 9 and the chessboard had been a gift from my cousin. A chess board is similar to a draughts board so that is what I used it for. We mostly used it to play basic chess and draughts with my elder brother, and then it just kind of fell by the wayside.