Chess: Mixed results in national chess championships at Parklands

chess open held

Players produced mixed results yesterday as the national chess championship entered its fourth day at Parklands Sports Club.

The top seed and tournament leader Matthew Kanegeni of MAT Chess Academy saw his perfect run of five wins on the trot come to a halt at the hands of Olympian Victor Ng’ani in the sixth round.

Matthew had earlier dispatched another Olympian and the 2016 Kenya Open champion Ben Nguku in the fifth round as he signaled his intentions of retaining the title he won in 2003.

Defending champion CM Ben Magana had a hard time as he settled for his third draw against the lowly rated Tom Amwai to leave him one point adrift to the leader.

Bank of Africa’s Joseph Maigua continued his meteoric rise to sit pretty in third place with five points after holding another pre-tournament favourite and Olympian Githinji Hinga before beating  Chege Kairu’s in round six.

With the juniors playing in the open section, the going must have been tough as they faced stiff opposition from the experienced seniors. However, the national under 16 champion Timothy Mwabu  stood at 29 out of 109 participants with four points. The ladies section saw national team player Gloria Jumba of KCB consolidate her lead.