Top seed Oyende wins Nairobi Scrabble League

Kenya number 1 Allan Oyende (right) and Milly Kikechi in action during Kisumu National scrabble championship on February 9th 2019. (Collins Oduor, Standard)

Kenya seed two Allan Oyende is the 2019 Nairobi Scrabble League champion.

Oyende emerged tops after beating a field of top scrabble masters to win gold in this year’s tournament at Stima Club in Ruaraka over the weekend.

The former East Africa number one registered 51 wins out of a possible 78 matches, with a cumulative winning spread of 4,057 points to be crowned the champion.

Tobias Outi, who had led most of the quarter, clocked 47 wins and a draw to emerge second with a cumulative winning spread of 1697 points.

Nicholas Mbugua, who is fresh from winning the Bondo scrabble circuit, came in third with 47 wins and 1,692 points.

“It was a tough and marathon tournament that was not easy to win and am glad everything turned out my way,” Oyende said after the win.

In the intermediate division, David Kimani won gold after accumulating 55 wins and 6,477 points. Duke Michieka was second with 54 wins and a draw, while Ayub Zande closed the podium with 36 wins and one draw.

The upcoming division, which had six entries, saw Richard Okechi from University of Nairobi emerge tops with an impressive 22 wins and 2,521 points.

Powell Kiplagat was second with 12 victories while Joan Wangari from Daystar University took bronze with nine wins and 399 points.

In the handicap division, which gives lower rated players a chance to play the top seeds, saw Outi complete a podium finish after emerging the best with 43 wins followed by Mbugua, who bagged 40 wins. Scrabble Kenya chairman Benard Amuke won bronze with 39 wins.

David Njenga and Outi registered the highest combined score in the league with 1,035 points as Martins Mutahi recorded the highest winning spread of 289 after defeating Francis Wachira 636-347.

Action now shifts to the Busia national circuit this coming weekend.