Magana, Nyaruai crowned chess champions

What you need to know:

  • The National Championships had attracted a total of 126 players; 99 in the Open Section and 27 in the Ladies Section.
  • The tournament was played as an eight rounds Swiss System of pairings in both sections and spread over four playing days, from Saturday to Tuesday.

Candidate Master (CM) Ben Magana and Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Joyce Nyaruai Ndirangu were crowned this year’s National Chess Championship men and women winners at the Kenya Comfort Hotel Suites, Milimani on Jamhuri Day.

The National Championships had attracted a total of 126 players; 99 in the Open Section and 27 in the Ladies Section. The tournament was played as an eight rounds Swiss System of pairings in both sections and spread over four playing days, from Saturday to Tuesday.

The Championships acted as the first phase of the 2018 Olympiad qualifiers, where the winners and the next best 24 players by merit will be invited to the second phase to be played in January 2018.

Magana was a clear favourite to win this championship been highest rated player in the Open Section with a rating of 2121, but he got stiff competition in the last two rounds from veteran players and also former Olympians Githinji Hinga and Joseph Atwoli, who both managed to draw with Magana and ending his unbeaten streak of 6/6, and thus seeing Magana ending up in joint first position with 7/8 points, tying with yet another former Olympian player Jackson Ndegwa Kamau who also managed 7/8 points.

In the Ladies section, it was business as usual for the highest rated lady player in this section, Nyaruai with a rating of 1608 obliterated the field and only drew one game out of the eight, with fellow Technical University of Kenya (TUK) player Sasha Mongeli in round 3, and ended up finishing in clear first position with 7.5/8 points.