Hail King Mehul and Queen Sanjana - Supreme Rulers of Kenyan Chess For 2014

The weekend of  12th to 14th December 2014 saw the 2014 Kenya National Championship being held at the Kenyatta University, SSBC Hall, Thika Road, Nairobi.

Over 110 players converged at the venue to battle it out in two separate sections - Open and the Ladies.

I did not attend and hence cannot give you some nice photos of the event apart from the prize giving ceremony. 

This event attracted a lot of emotions as usual.  The winner of the Open Section was controversial blogger Mehul Gohil.  Many will recall that Mehul Gohil did not make it for the 2014 Tromso Chess Olympiad after being locked out by alleged game fixing in the final stages of the selection tournament.  There was an operation called "OMO" - "Operation Mehul Out" which was run by some of the participants and their sponsors.  The effect of this was Mehul went underground and only re-surfaced on 30th November 2014 during the Speed Chess event organised by Ramgarhia Youth Association at the Sikh Union Club.

2014 Kenya National Champion during the 2014 RYA chess festival

 Mehul returned with a bang and won the event with a perfect score of 8/8 with the final game against Ricky Sang.

The 2014 Ladies Championship attracted an ugly incident which is a big shame on Kenyan Chess.   The winner was 17 year old Sanjana Deshpande who was clear winner with 6.5/8 points.  Sanjana is an Indian passport holder but resident of Kenya and hence eligible to take part in the event.  After she won the event there was an apparent attempt to hijack the title from her due to the fact that she was not Kenyan.  I have not been able t find out who was responsible for this action but I am deeply ashamed by this action.  Sanjana beat the whole field and won by a clear margin.

Sanjana Deshpande in action during the RYA Chess Festival

In the end commons sense prevailed and she was awarded the prestigious prize as the 2014 Kenya National Champion.

Proud Winners pose in front of officials of Chess Kenya - Photo from Satish Despande

Details of the event are shown below.

Open - http://www.chess-results.com/tnr154873.aspx?lan=1&art=4&wi=821
Ladies -http://www.chess-results.com/tnr154874.aspx?lan=1&art=4&wi=821

Tournament Details are shown below;

The details of both the OPEN and LADIES sections are as follows:

Time:

1. Friday, 12th - 8.30 am to 6.30 pm
2. Saturday, 13th - 8.00 am to 6.00 pm
3. Sunday, 14th - 9.00 am to 5.00 pm

Type: Individual event

Eligibility: All (Citizens, Residents and Non-residents)

Mode of Play:  8 rounds Swiss system

Time Control: 90 minutes per player to finish the game

Walkover Time: 30 minutes (with the exception of round 1, which will have no default losing time)

Participation Fee: 

1. Kenyan residents: Ksh. 1000
2. Non-residents: Ksh. 1500
3. Juniors: Ksh. 500

Registration Deadline: 12 pm on Thursday, 11th December 2014

Prizes:

The prize structure will be announced/communicated before end of day, Sunday, 7th December 2014

Schedule:

Friday, 12th December 2014

• 8.00 am to 8.15 am: Arrival
• 8.15 am to 8.25 am: Technical meeting & briefing of rules
• 8.30 am to 11.30 am: Round 1
• 12.00 pm to 3.00 pm: Round 2
• 3.30 pm to 6.30 pm: Round 3

Saturday, 13th December 2014

• 8.00 am  to 11.00 am: Round 4
• 11.30 am  to 2.30 pm: Round 5
• 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm: Round 6

Sunday, 14th December 2014

• 9.00 am  to 12.00 am: Round 7
• 1.00 pm  to 4.00 pm: Round 8
• 4.00 pm to 5.00 pm: Closing Ceremony and Prize Giving

German School Host Very Successful Chess Tournament

All roads led to German School on 15th November 2014 when German School (Michael Grzimek) hosted it's first ever chess tournament.  See their website -

http://www.dsnairobi.de/index.php?article_id=1&clang=1

Action was fast and furious on this cold and wet morning with 54 kids from 8 schools battling it out.  Did tears flow at the end?  Certainly they did .  One kid was inconsolable when he lost his last game to one of the tournament winners.

Some of the glittering trophies up for grabs

The German School went out of it's way to make sure that this event was spectacular in a Kenyan way.  Consider the following that happened;

1. Free drinks and snack for all players and parents
2. Flowers on the arbiters desk
3. PA system
4. Projector
5. National anthem for Kenya and Germany played at the start
6. Live transmission of chess events from around the world

Many stakeholders were concerned that on the same day Terrian Chess Academy were hosting an event on the same day.  That event attracted a total of 45 players!  This meant that we had almost 100 kids playing chess that Saturday.  It just proves that Nairobi is big enough for 2 or possible 4 chess tournaments on the same day.

Krishi Shah of Peponi School put on a fine display to win the event with 6/6.

I bring you more photos from this amazing event.

Peponi School were the winners

The playing hall

Add caption

Kids have some friendly games

The brain child of the tournament Ms Phline Myburgh Headmistress of German

 School with Kim Bhari who helped

Peponi School Coach Mr Andanje holds the winners trophy

Final standing

1-2|Krishi Nishil Shah, ||1200||Peponi|6|14.5|21.0|21.0
|Aeson Chowdhry, ||||Peponi|6|14.0|21.0|21.0
3-4|Mohit Srungarapu, ||1200||Oshwal|5|13.5|21.5|16.0
|Aunam Shah, ||||Peponi|5|12.5|18.5|20.0
5-6|Ebenezer Smith, ||||Braeburn|4.5|15.5|22.5|16.0
|Ignazio Rizzini, ||||Peponi|4.5|12.5|18.0|16.0
7-13|Clinton Musalia, ||||Elimu House|4|17.0|25.5|16.0
|Arnav Shashikant Kachra, ||1200||Samaj School|4|16.5|25.5|15.0
|Darshan Shah, ||1200||Oshwal|4|16.5|25.0|18.0
|Viraj B Shah, ||||Peponi|4|13.0|20.0|13.0
|Gregor Heinemann, ||||German School|4|11.5|17.5|15.0
|Antoni Zeyer, ||||German School|4|11.5|15.5|12.0
|Jacobo de Mesa, ||||Peponi|4|11.0|15.5|11.0
14-21|ANUSHUMAN GUPTA, ||||Braeburn|3.5|15.5|22.5|12.5
|Tia Shrivatsava, ||||Braeburn|3.5|14.5|20.5|12.5
|Amrita Jasbir Suri, ||||Peponi|3.5|14.0|22.0|15.5
|Aryan Shashikant Kachra, ||1200||Samaj School|3.5|13.5|21.5|13.5
|Bianca Rizzini, ||||Peponi|3.5|12.0|17.5|11.0
|Oskar Herrmann, ||||German School|3.5|11.5|16.5|11.5
|Garesh Rangaiyan, ||||Peponi|3.5|10.5|15.0|11.0
|Moses Kimani (s/o Vernoic, ||||Elimu House|3.5|8.0|14.5|9.5
22-31|Adrien Chung, ||||Braeburn|3|17.5|24.5|15.0
|Amisha Amit Rathi, ||||Arya|3|14.0|21.5|12.0
|ALEJANDRO BERNARDEZ (Fren, ||||Braeburn|3|14.0|21.0|12.0
|Saim Shah, ||||Aga Khan|3|13.0|21.0|11.0
|Daksh Talwar, ||||Peponi|3|13.0|20.5|11.5
|Derrick Kariuki, ||||Elimu House|3|13.0|20.0|10.5
|Jadyn Chowdhury, ||||Peponi|3|11.5|17.5|11.0
|Adham Osman, ||||German School|3|9.5|14.5|7.0
|Bruce Ju (Braeside), ||||Braeburn|3|9.5|13.0|6.0
|Pranav Patani, ||||Peponi|3|9.0|15.0|10.0
32-40|Prashant Mishra, ||||Arya|2.5|13.5|20.5|11.5
|Debbie Wahu, ||||Elimu House|2.5|12.0|20.5|9.5
|MANAN DEO SINGH, ||||Braeburn|2.5|12.0|16.5|8.0
|Dennis Wachira, ||||Elimu House|2.5|11.5|17.0|8.0
|Divit Kukreti, ||||Arya|2.5|11.5|16.0|8.5
|Tirth Shah, ||||Peponi|2.5|10.5|17.0|10.0
|Siya Gusaini, ||||Braeburn|2.5|10.5|16.0|8.0
|PRIYAN NEAL PATEL, ||||Braeburn|2.5|10.5|14.0|6.0
|Imre Steyn, ||||German School|2.5|9.5|13.0|8.5
41-45|Alina Nanji (Aga Khan), ||||Aga Khan|2|12.0|16.5|6.0
|Aansa Asif, ||||Arya|2|11.0|15.5|6.0
|Ahana Neel Shah, ||||German School|2|10.5|15.5|7.0
|Jakob Maximilian Gunter K, ||||German School|2|10.0|14.0|9.0
|Vyom Kumar, ||||Braeburn|2|9.0|13.0|5.0
46-47|Maanav Shah, ||||Aga Khan|1.5|9.0|14.0|5.5
|Kunjal Kukadia, ||||Arya|1.5|8.0|12.5|5.5
48-51|Lelo Bernardo, ||||German School|1|12.5|17.0|4.0
|DEVANG TIWARI, ||||Braeburn|1|10.0|16.0|2.5
|Siddhant Mehrotra, ||||Braeburn|1|10.0|16.0|1.0
|Kunjak Kakadia, ||||Arya|1|6.0|6.0|2.0
52|ABOUG ALBINO, ||||Braeburn|0.5|10.0|15.0|2.5
53-59|Parv Patel, ||||Arya|0|11.0|17.0|0.0
|Fathima Mohamed, ||1100||Samaj School|0|0.5|0.5|0.0
|CLIFFE  ZUCULE , ||||Braeburn|0|0.5|0.5|0.0
|NABIL AHMAD FAHIMI, ||||Braeburn|0|0.5|0.5|0.0
|SIYA GUSAIN, ||||Braeburn|0|0.5|0.5|0.0
|Arnold Klein Mudidi, ||||Elimu House|0|0.5|0.5|0.0
|Moses Kimani, ||||Elimu House|0|0.5|0.5|0.0