KENYAN CHESS BLOG

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T08:22:00.003+03:00

From myself & family i wish all readers of this blog a merry christmas.

Chess whiz kid fourth in Africa

2011-12-22T08:16:00.000+03:00

Chess whiz kid Joseph Mwale scooped fourth position during this year's Africa Youth Championship held last weekend in Lusaka, Zambia. More

ALL AFRICAN GAMES: FINAL RESULTS

2011-09-16T14:55:00.006+03:00

The All African Games are currently taking place in Mozambique. The Kenyan team is composed of a variety of disciplines one of them being chess. The chess competitions ended yesterday with Egypt sweeping the medals.

Final Standings – Open Section

Egypt – 18 points (out of 18)
South Africa – 16 points
Angola – 13 points
Zambia – 13 points
Algeria – 10 points
Mozambique – 10 points
Zimbabwe – 9 points
Nigeria – 9 points
Botswana – 8 points
Madagascar – 7 points
Ethiopia – 7 points
Kenya – 4 points
Namibia – 2 points
Ghana – 0 points

Final Standings – Ladies Section

Egypt – 13 points (out of 14)
Algeria – 10 points
South Africa – 9 points
Nigeria – 8 points
Botswana – 8 points
Angola – 4 points
Mozambique – 3 points
Kenya – 1 point

Board Results – Open Section

IM Robert Gwaze (Zimbabwe) – 92.85%
Joao Simoes (Angola) – 87.5%
IM Amorim Agnelo (Angola) – 91.66%
IM Mohamed Ezat (Egypt) – 91.66%
Bunmi Olape (Nigeria) – 92.85%

Board Results – Ladies Section

WFM Eman El Ansary (Egypt) – 85.71%
Sabrina Latreche (Algeria) – 100%
WGM Mona Khaled (Egypt) – 90%
WFM Wafa Shrook (Egypt) – 85.71%
Oluwatobiloba Olatunji (Nigeria) – 90%

KENYAN TEAM PERFORMANCE

Round 9 – Open Team

Kenya (1.5) v/s Ethiopia (2.5):

Githinji Hinga (0.5) – Endale Bekele (0.5)
Joseph Atwoli (0) – Girum Teklewold (1)
Mehul Gohil (0) – Leykun Mesfin (1)
Ben Magana (1) – Michael Getachew (0)

Round 7 – Ladies Team

Kenya (0.5) v/s Botswana (3.5):

Purity Maina (0.5) – Tshepiso Lopang (0.5)
Gloria Jumba (0) – Boikhutso Mudongo (1)
Isabelle Asiema (0) – Keitumetse Mokgacha (1)
Rose Wabuti (0) – Ontiretse Sabure (1)

Round 8 – Open Team

Kenya (0.5) v/s Zambia (3.5):

Martin Gateri (0) - Stanley Chumfwa (1)
Joseph Atwoli (0) – Daniel Jere (1)
Mehul Gohil (0.5) – Richmond Phiri (0.5)
Ben Magana (0) – Kelvin Chumfwa (1)

Round 7 – Open Team

Madagascar (3) v/s Kenya (1):

Girard Ramasindraibe (0) – Martin Gateri (1)
Herimanjatosoa Randriambololona (1) – Githinji Hinga (0)
Richard El Raza Henikasina (1) – Mehul Gohil (0)
Yves Rakotomaharo (1) – Ben Magana (0)

Round 6 – Ladies Team

Angola (2) v/s Kenya (2):

Fatima Reis (0.5) – Purity Maina (0.5)
Sonia Rosalino (0.5) – Gloria Jumba (0.5)
Nelma Lopes (1) – Isabelle Asiema (0)
Valquiria Rocha (0) – Rose Wabuti (1)

Round 6 – Open Team

Ghana (0) v/s Kenya (4):

Anquandah Francis (0) – Martin Gateri (1)
John Hasford (0) – Joseph Atwoli (1)
Edward Thompson (0) – Mehul Gohil (1)
George Arko-Dadzie (0) – Ben Magana (1)

Round 5 – Ladies Team

Kenya (1) v/s Egypt (3):

Rehema Khimulu (0) - Eman El Ansary (1)
Gloria Jumba (0.5) – Myada Elgohary (0.5)
Isabelle Asiema (0.5) – Mona Khaled (0.5)
Rose Wabuti (0) – Wafa Shrook (1)

Round 5 – Open Team

Kenya (0) v/s Botswana (4):

Martin Gateri (0) - Providence Oatlhotse (1)
Githinji Hinga (0) – Barileng Gaealafshwe (1)
Joseph Atwoli (0) – Moakofi Notha (1)
Mehul Gohil (0) – Thabo Gumpo (1)

Round 4 – Ladies Team

Mozambique (4) v/s Kenya (0):

Graca Tivane (1) – Purity Maina (0)
Vania Vilhete (1) – Gloria Jumba (0)
Jossefa Mahota (1) – Isabelle Asiema (0)
Jesse Silva (1) – Rose Wabuti (0)

Round 5 – Open Team

Kenya (0) v/s Botswana (4):

Martin Gateri (0) - Providence Oatlhotse (1)
Githinji Hinga (0) – Barileng Gaealafshwe (1)
Joseph Atwoli (0) – Moakofi Notha (1)
Mehul Gohil (0) – Thabo Gumpo (1)

Round 4 – Open Team

Nigeria (4) v/s Kenya (0):

Dlamrewaju Ajibola (1) – Martin Gateri (0)
Adegbotega Adebayo (1) – Githinji Hinga (0)
Benjamin Omorere (1) – Joseph Atwoli (0)
Bunmi Olape (1) – Ben Magana (0)

Round 3 – Ladies Team

Kenya (0) v/s South Africa (4):

Rehema Khimulu (0) – Monique S Sischy (1)
Purity Maina (0) – Anzel Solomons (1)
Gloria Jumba (0) – Ezet Roos (1)
Rose Wabuti (0) – Denise Frick (1)

Round 3 – Open Team

Kenya (2.5) v/s Namibia (1.5):

Githinji Hinga (0.5) – Simon Shidolo (0.5)
Joseph Atwoli (1) – Otto Nakapunda (0)
Mehul Gohil (1) – Charles Eichab (0)
Ben Magana (0) – Frans Dennis (1)

Round 2 – Open Team

Zimbabwe (3.5) v/s Kenya (0.5):

Robert Gwaze (1) – Martin Gateri (0)
Rodwell Makoto (1) – Githinji Hinga (0)
Spencer Masango (0.5) – Mehul Gohil (0.5)
Dion Moyo (1) – Ben Magana (0)

Round 2 – Ladies Team

Algeria (3.5) v/s Kenya (0.5):

Amina Mezioud (1) – Rehema Khimulu (0)
Sabrina Latreche (1) – Purity Maina (0)
Amira Hamza (0.5) – Isabelle Asiema (0.5)
Feriel Lalaoui (1) – Rose Wabuti (0)

Round 1 – Open Team

Kenya (0.5) v/s Angola (3.5):

Martin Gateri (0) – Eduardo Pascoal (1)
Githinji Hinga (0) – Joao Simoes (1)
Joseph Atwoli (0) – Amorim Agnelo (1)
Mehul Gohil (0.5) – Catarino Domingos (0.5)

Round 1 – Ladies Team

Nigeria (4) v/s Kenya (0):

Doris Adebayo (1) – Rehema Khimulu (0)
Olufunmilayo Akinoka (1) – Purity Maina (0)
Rosemary Amadasun (1) – Gloria Jumba (0)
Oluwatobiloba Olatunji (1) – Isabelle Asiema (0)

EMOJONG TO PLAY IN MUMBAI OPEN

2011-09-16T13:30:00.003+03:00

FM EMOJONG READY FOR ACTION IN MUMBAI OPEN

BY Uganda Chess Federation

Uganda’s recently crowned FIDE Master (FM) Elijah Emojong is in India to slug it out with 17 Grandmasters and 30 International Masters among others in the 4th Mumbai Mayor’s International Chess Tournament that runs from Friday 16th September to 24th September 2011 in Mumbai, India.
The tournament has attracted entries from 10 countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, Ukraine, Armenia, Russia, Uzbekistan, Poland, Israel, India and Uganda.

Russian GM Maxim Turov, with a rating of 2643, is the top seed in the tournament which is organized by Venus Chess Academy and Bombay Chess Association, sponsored by Mumbai Municipal Corporation and co-sponsored by LIC of India.
The rated tournament provides Emojong with a rating of 2156, a rare chance to improve on his rating points and acquisition of an IM norm if he does well against the top rated players in the event.
A total of 11 rounds are to be played in the
event. At the time of filing this report, Emojong was preparing for first round action in the next 15 minutes.

Uganda Chess Federation
P.O. Box 2355, Kampala - Uganda.
National Council of Sports Headquarters, Lugogo
Tel: +256-752-426559, 701-526559
Email: ugandachess@yahoo.com
Website: http://uganda.fide.com

REFLECTIONS

2011-09-15T13:36:00.004+03:00

The All African Games are currently taking place in Mozambique. The Kenyan team is composed of a variety of disciplines one of them being chess. Mehul Gohil who is part of the Kenyan chess team has been providing the Kenya chess forum with regular updates.

Mehul looks back at the lessons he has learned at the ongoing AAG.

BY MEHUL GOHIL

1. Must play in 3 FIDE rated tournaments ever year - this event alone
has shown me things I had no idea about.

2. Passive play is punished. Don't ever play passive in these kinds of
events. It's easy to get sucked into that mode since it looks like
safe chess. Probably works in Kenya, back here it does jack. Play
aggressive, play positive.

3. Chess stamina...the ability to keep finding good or competent moves
all the time, the ability to remain vigilant move after move...this is
what separated them from us. The other fellas stay in their for the
long haul. They keep returning the ball over the net. I must admit
this was a whole new phenomenon for me. I haven't experienced this
back home. Game after game this is the situation. Take a look at Gwaze
vs Chumfwa from Rd4...a hundred mover thing...to see what I am talking
about.

4. GM Draws should be banned in Kenya. They lead to bad habits which
are absolutely of no help back here.

5. We don't know how to study or what to study. There are large tracts
of middle game stuff we underestimate or have no clue about. If there
is one clear area the other stronger African players outclass us in is
middle game. In equal or worse positions they know what they should
do, how to etc. In this respect we need a coach. A proper one like an
IM or GM.

6. Calculation and tactics. There is a big gap between us and these
guys in our tactical and calculation ability. Something we all need to
work on. What this allows them to do is be more creative in boring
positions etc. Some of my opponents just came up with things out of
nowhere.

7. We think we love chess a lot as Kenyan chess addicts. Now I know the
other African players love it even more and are even bigger chess
addicts than any of us. This means you must be slightly crackpot in
order to play well. You need a dose of insanity to sit there and
return the ball and wait for the opponent to make a mistake. This
extreme chess addiction of the Zambians, Nigerians etc also allows
them to work like crazy on chess purely on auto-pilot. I now know hard
work in chess does not mean only gritting your teeth and forcing
yourself to sit down to study...it also means having an extreme chess
addiction that self-propels you to look at chess.

8. Theory. You don't know theory then don't bother showing up for a FIDE rated.

9. Long chess and blitz. More long chess events needed in Kenya, plus
out blitz has to be played more seriously and not for fun. These guys
are blitz monsters but you will not catch them playing blitz for fun.
They play it to kill you. They like winning and blitz allows them to
kill more patzers on a shorter time span.

10. Extreme desire to win. Unlike the Kenyans, most of the other
African teams have an intense desire to win. You feel it across the
board. Even if you have a better position or its equal.

11. Knowing the evaluation of the position. I realized I don't know
how to evaluate a position well. Whether it's equal, i am better etc.
This means I didn't know when to accept draws or when to play more
solid or aggressive etc. This evaluation skills I doubt you can learn
from books etc...you need experience and therefore more practice in
FIDE rated events.

12. Knowing when to take a day off. Magnum in this respect knows well.
Before the Botswana game he advised me to rest since I had a good
score etc. And he told me I would burn out or something since the
previous games had been intense. I played instead and I lost. You must
know when to relax. It's very easy to get sucked into looking at chess
all the time here and I realize just forgetting about the game time to
time is very helpful.

13. Tournament regulations. The tornas back in Kenya are largely
informal in nature with noise all the time, post postmortems happening
right next to a game that is going on, people not turning up on time
etc. When you play in these serious affairs like AAG you realize how
important silence is for thinking about your moves. Perhaps we need
stricter torna regulations on our side like switching off phones etc.

ALL AFRICAN GAMES DAY 10

2011-09-15T13:31:00.002+03:00

Africa's 2nd strongest chess team (arguably) Zambia crushed us
3.5-0.5. Gateri probably had some chances against IM Chumfwa but
mishandled the mid game complications. Akello was basically dismantled
courtesy of his naivety. He played a line HE KNEW had a refutation.
But he thought it was so complex his IM opponent would not find it.
Well, his opponent, the mighty IM Daniel Jere (who I think will be the
next Zambian GM...he's just damn good) not only knew the whole line in
depth but executed the refutation at almost blitz/rapid speed and our
guy was left with an egg on his face. On Board 4, Chumfwa's younger
bro managed to launch a K-side attack which broke through.

On Board 3 I drew with IM Richard Phiri. This I think is my best game
of this event. I out-prepared my opponent and knew what the mid-game
plans were, spotted a neat d5 breakthrough that consolidated my
advantage, built up a winning attack...but then all that calculation
meant by move 30 both my opponent and I were down to our last minute!!
I naturally miscalculated and unleashed an exchange sac thinking it
was decisive (when maintaining tension was best) only to find the IM
wriggle out and I had to force a perpetual against his king or risk
collapsing.

Tomorrow we play Ethiopia in the last round.

ALL AFRICAN GAMES DAY 9

2011-09-15T13:20:00.003+03:00

Madagascar beat us 3-1 with Gateri clinching the point in an
interesting game on Board 1. Madagascar guys are a new team that is
well trained with them having a coach and in this tournament they have
been giving some of the top dogs a run for their money (or medal).
Very serious chaps and we could learn from them. I was offered a draw
by my opponent in a position where neither of us could make any
progress. I should have taken it but the desire to get a point made me
take risks and I was duly punished.

Today we play the might Zambian team.

Tomorrow we wind up and head home day after.

There is a lot I have learned t and I will put down some critical points
in a later report. Somethings you have no idea of their existence
until you have experienced it.

For a debut performance I think I have done OK. But I guess you guys
expected better. I don't think I could have done better as I put in
the max. I cannot emphasis we need to play in 3 or 4 such events in a
year as there is no better way to improve then playing stronger
opposition. Whether we organize lots of classical events back home or
not, if we don't play stronger guys we will not reach far. I already
feel I should play in another FIDE rated as soon as possible in order
to consolidate my 'learning' these sides. Waiting one year for an
Olympiador something would just make no sense and the time gap would
make any learnt lessons irrelevant.

ALL AFRICAN GAMES DAY 8

2011-09-15T13:15:00.003+03:00

The men beat Ghana 4-0 with Magnum finally getting onto the scoreboard
in style via a magnumish K-side attack.

However, the best result of the day was when Isabell and Gwen got
draws against No.1 seed Egypt. This match was dramatic with all the
antics you could hope for in a chess match. First up, Isabella
unexpectedly unleashed a combo that saw her get a winning position.
The Egypt ladies coach could not control himself and lost it. After
all Isabella was about to crush a WGM. So the coach did something
illegal by proposing a draw on behalf of the player!!!!! This without
the player having any idea of offering it herself. Well, what happened
next was hollywoodish as Isabella buckled under the psychological
pressure and took the draw!!! I was livid and went up to the Nigerian
arbiter who had left a half-baked assistant in charge. However, I was
also responsible for my own game and let it go. I won my game and then
went to check Gwen's game which was the last one on. A bunch of us
Kenyans got stunned as Gwen's highly rated player buckled under time
pressure and gave Gwen a completely won position. What do you know,
that bloody coach again pulled a stunt and out of nowhere OFFERED gwen
a draw!!!!! This time Johnny was there and he jumped in like a
stuntman and there was almost a commotion/WWF when the Nigerian
arbiter stepped in just in time in basically told the Egypt coach to F
off. Nenow...the Egyptian men GM's swarmed to where the action was and
they were busy looking at the game. Apparently they absolutely hated
it that their top lady was going down. Kina GM El Ghindy, IM Shoker
and Co were left scratching their heads...Gwen must have been under
immense pressure and when offered a draw this time by the opponent
herself took it. She should have just crushed that Egyptian mamaboga.

Anyways, that was simply a HUGE result for the ladies. Getting two
draws against a WGM infested team that is also the seed one of the
event is nothing short of earth shattering. The team is now charged
with positive emotions.

Tomorrow is another tough day.

ALL AFRICAN GAMES DAY 6 AND 7

2011-09-15T13:09:00.002+03:00

Sorry, I cocked up. Like Arsene Wenger i messed up a winning position in the
game against Botswana with the timid ...Qf8 rather than ...Qxh4 which I was
going to play but got panicky. Stupid me. Kenya lost 4-0.

It feels shit to lose. The worst feeling in the world. Some of my colleagues
have lost more than one game. I can only imagine how much worse they are
feeling. Tomorrow we got Ghana and at today's rest day am just having too
much fun and getting that loss out of the system.

I have nothing more to say except now I have to win all my remaining 3-4
games in order to get a medal. Ghana and Madagascar should be sure point...the
other 1-2 points I'll have to work extra hard.

I just hate losing. So much.

ALL AFRICAN GAMES DAY 5

2011-09-09T10:54:00.003+03:00

Mehul Gohil

BY MEHUL GOHIL

Hi guys,

Kenya beat Namibia 2.5-1.5. On Board 1, Githinji Hinga drew. On Board
2 Akello Atwoli decimated his opponent after forcing a poisonous home
cooked meal down his opponents throat. On Board 3 I completely
outprepared/outplayed my opponent, one Charles Eichaab. This big fella
who is the size of 3 elephants (and therefore an imposing presence
across the board) didn't know what hit him in the opening and soon
died. On Board 4 Magana had a won game and his opponent was going to
resign in a couple of moves than something happened and he lost. It
was not touch move, he did not make a bad move, he did not blunder,
his flag did not fall....so here is the riddle...what made magnum drop
a point?

Tommorow we play Nigeria. FM Gateri returns back to the team whilst I
am going to be rested.

Kenya is so far ranked 9/14.

Off the board things to report: We heard that there is some bog storm
brewing back home regarding sabotage/corruption/something as da
netball team flew here, there was no netball for men, and flew back
etc and some MP's are asking for all officials to be arrested at the
airport etc...it seems to be affecting things here as the chess team
is now going back to village over the weekend. We don't like that.
Definitely not looking forward to WWF wrestling, robbers (several
athletes from various countries have been robbed in broad daylight
either when walking in the environs or stuff disappearing from their
rooms), and pig sty conditions (nobody cleaning any toilets, puke all
over etc etc).

ALL AFRICAN GAMES DAY 4

2011-09-08T12:47:00.001+03:00

Zimbabwe crushed us 3.5 - 0.5 yesterday. Githinji blew a completely
won game. It would have been a masterpiece but he cracked. Kudos to
his opponent for maintaining composure and turning the tables. Gateri
did his best against Gwaze but in the end IM trickery and technique
won the day. Magnum played a quasi speculative sac against his
opponent...he had a draw with accurate play but he fumbled and the
opponent took his extra piece to the bank.

In my game, a KID bayonet attack occured. I must thank one Mzee
Kanegeni for the training at Kasarani as one of the lines we looked at
came about and I also did some extra homework afterwards. For some 20
moves my opponents and I followed theory in a variation where black
sacs a pawn and cedes temporary initiative in return for the bishop
pair and especially the all important dark square one. My opponent
whilst unrated I found to be stronger than Rd 1 Angolan opponent. He
set many tactical traps for me and it took some willpower to keep
seeing them. I must admit that I could not call the shots in this game
until we hit endgame. My opponent kinda overpressed and I ended up
with some positional advantage when most of the pieces disappeared. I
think I played a pretty tough and resilient defense. Then I relaxed
after the main storm was over and immediately played a move I thought
was strong but when my opponent countered powerfully I realised I was
in shit. He got an extra pawn in a rook endgame but I managed to find
an accurate defense and held on for my second draw of the event.

On the ladies side, Isabella bagged half a point...the first points
for the ladies.

Tommorow we are playing Namibia and I understand it is a team roughly
at Kenyan strength levels. We clearly need to win this match. We are
resting Martin Gateri and Akello Atwoli joins us again.

I am reading most of you are very concerned by the heavy losses we are
suffering and are expecting better. I will bluntly point out that the
opposition is simply much stronger than us and we are one of the
weakest teams here. Plus we are not converting the promising positions
we are getting...speaking for myself I should have won Rd 1 game. The
level of resistance we are facing is much stronger than anything
available back home. In Kenya a 'strong' player plays strong moves
over a phase of 5-10 moves and then switiches to auto pilot. Here one
is forced to keep coming up with competent moves all the time...on
every goddamn move. For me it's an original expeirence and it is
taxing. Clearly team kenya needs to maintain vigilance throughout
otherwise just one sloppy move is getting punished thoroughly.

That said, I think all players are playing to the best of their
ability. Simply more care is needed. Perhaps magnum is the guy who
needs to play better than yesterday as that was not his best.

You guys can complain (it's your right, you are footing the bills),
but we are doing the max we can. Speaking for myself, I am pushing
myself to perform but the opponents are not weak. They don't blunder,
they don't make obvious mistakes and one has to resort to gradually
outplaying them and this is an area I am still getting used to. Maybe
today I will win. Have been checking my opponents games last night (he
has about 60 or so games on the database) and he's an OK player so
I'll have to be precise. Have been digesting what I have been doing
wrong in the last two games and hopefully I am stronger today. Though
I think I am becoming stronger as the games progress.

Off the board things I can mention breifly: Maputo is a very clean and
neat city unlike Nairobi which is more chaotic in comparison. People
are in general friendly. I have developed over the last three weeks a
taste for jogging...every morning I do a couple of kilometeres. One
Gloria Gweyani (or Gwen) in our ladies team is one fit person and can
knock out 4-6 kms with ease. We use the more or less empty road which
leads towards the border with SA/Swaziland. Swimming is also on the
agenda and everyday I do a few laps. The games begin at 3pm so the
mornings I spend preparing for my opponent.

ALL AFRICAN GAMES DAY 1-3

2011-09-08T12:42:00.004+03:00

You are not getting much info about woz going on here coz
technologically this country is a banana republic. Kenyan internet
standards are world class but here it is very difficult to get
connected to the world wide web. A modem costs about 7k shillings and
the hotel internet I am using now is costing 400 bob an hour (kenyan
currency) but KNSC have decided to foot the internet bills and maybe
we will get modems as well since it is an integral part of the chess
process.

There are tons and tons of things I can tell you about. The first
three days here (Sunday - Tuesday) have been as action packed as any
human being outside a war zone or Kenya Chess Forum can hope for. It
feels like we have been here a whole year. In random fashion I will
tell you as much as I can but inevitably some things will be left
out.....

1. YESTERDAY'S MATCH vs ANGOLA

Johnny erroneously reported here that Kenya lost 4-0. The score was
actually 3.5-0.5. I got a draw in my first FIDE rated game (Torna is
FIDE rated with titles on offer...depending on how you score). I was
winning but fatigue resulted in some sloppy endgame technique and my
ELO 2257 opponent equalised. We should have done much better, infact
won this match as Akello blew a clear and 'éasy' draw against the
Angolan IM on Board 3. It came as a shock to us spectators when he
went Kf2 soemthing. Gateri had more or less a won position and then I
don't know what happened but he contrived to lose a piece.

The resistance level here is completely different from that of a
Kenyan torna. Fatigue is very real and after the round was over we
were finished. You have to think x10 more in games here. I have never
calculated more in my life in a single game. I got a clear advanatage
but then my opponents geared himself up and started playing a very
hard defense.

Akello and I were the last to finish our games which lasted 5 and a
half hours. I got to the hotel had a light dinner, hot shower and
crashed into bed. I think I'll die if I have to play two more rounds
like this.

We rested Magana against Angolo. Today we are playing Zimbabwe which
is powered by IM Robert Gwaze. We are resting Akello since we think he
needs to recover after his shattering loss (when the draw was so close
at hand). Plus he played a very good game. The IM never outplayed the
guy. Unfortunately tragic things happen in chess.

2. THE PLAYING VENUE ETC.

The venue for chess is absolutely stunning. I think it's the best
chess venue I have ever seen in my life. It's a place called Banco de
Mozambique Cultural Center. I will post some photos on my off day here
on KCF and on Facebook so that you take a look for yourself.

The arbiters are utter professionals. Very high standards. I have
never witnessed this before.

The who's who of African chess are all here. It's one hell of an
experience. As a chessplayer it's heaven. I would suggest the rest of
you get motivated to qualifiy for the next event as this thing is
awesome.

3. THE AAG 'ÓLYMPIC' VILLAGE

This is where all the Bim Dhawo stuff begins. Oh boy...this has been
an adventure!!

Ok let me explain it chronilogically.

Arrival at Airport on Sunday Morning: Going through customs was a
breeze. We were treated like VIP and exited in record time...10
minutes...I kid you not...that's all the time it took from getting out
of the plane (after a rather scary landing experience with the plane
bumping around etc), claiming da luggage, passport check and getting
to the super luxury bus dedicated exclusively to the chess team.

Arrival at Olympic Village Sunday Midday: The village where the
athletes from all over Africa stay is a sprawling giant thing. Jesus,
it''s big. The newly built main stadium, aquatic stadium, dinning
place etc are all located within the vicinity. The whole place is like
a small town in itself. It's about 20km away from downtown Maputo.
It's well built, the rooms are spacious etc. Only problem was we were
amongst the first batches of athletes to arrive and the village was
not yet packed to capacity. The main contigents of the other countries
were yet to arrive. This fooled us into thinking we were in a real
cool place.

Sunday Afternoon & the chess team splits: There was an issue with
accomodation as it transpired that team Kenya (all sports disciplines)
could not fit everyone. So the ladies got a room whilst the men were
told to wait. So we waited by checking out the neighbourhood etc and
then four of us (Gorilla, G, Akello and Isabella) went to watch the
boxing which was in town. I will digress here and tell you about the
transport. First of all the Mozambique road infrastructure is simply
awesome. Even though Kenya is building all the flyovers and stuff we
are still no where near the mozambique level (internet is a different
thing). The AAG organisers have dedicated buses to all countries
individually. These are not your usual buses. They are more like 5
star spaceships. Even Horizon bus cannot compare. So we took one of
these to get to town. Now, if you thought watching boxing was boring
think again. On TV it looks soft. But I dare you to watch it in real
life and you'll realise this is a gruesome, bloody, violent and
addictive sport. Oh man, watching two guys kill each other is
incomparable entertainment. The boxing stadium was packed and the
noise level were at the level of the "deafening champ". We saw some of
our Kenyan boxers in action. I think one punch from any of these
boxing patzers would kill me. This guys are tough. When a guy punches
you can hear that punch from 20 meters away and smell the sweat and
blood. I am going to be going for all boxing matches at city hall from
now on.

Ok, so the boxing ended around 10pm and we made our way back to the
olympic village. When we got there all the other chessers had
disappeared!! Plus we didn't know our rooms...in fact we were told we
didn't have any rooms and to fend for ourselves!! With no mobile
contact we had no clue where the others were. After hustiling some
info we were told they had been relocated but us four left behind. The
Kenya sailing team, who turned out to be three good samaritans,
volunteered to give us a place in their room. Then we headed for a
late dinner at 12 midnight. On reaching the gigantic canteen all hell
broke lose as all the sports that were finishing at night and all the
athleted that checked in for late dinner like us (a couple of hundred)
found no food and long lines and the whole place became WWF. Guys like
me and Githinji almost had to duck under tables as massive amounts of
testestorone were unleashed. We grabbed whatever food we could get
hold off and got the hell of there.

We went to sleep at 4am.

The following day, due to the general chaos in the AAG organisation
(if you though CK was bad, you aint seen nothing), Kenya was almost
kicked out of the chess event because TM and coach did not realise the
deadline for registration was Monday morning. Therefore it turned out
that us four being 'lost' was a blessing in disguise as the others
were someplace else whilst at the olympic village we got wind that
registration deadline was at hand. Akello, Githinji and I got the
neccessary forms filled and signed etc. It turned out the arbiters
whilst very angry with us were also understanding and pretty cool
people. The event was to start on monday but just because of Kenya
they delayed till yesterday!!!

The next day, by pure luck the chess team got together.

We were relocated to a place 90 km out of Maputo and an hours drive
from the venue. The new location is a swanky 4 star hotel just on the
border of Mozambique and SA. We are very happy here.

Now, you might be asking how in the world do we get to the venue so
far out. Well, the AAG organisers whilst having problems with the
olympic village diablos as pretty efficient is some respects. The
chess team has been given an exclusive bus...a 60 seater 5 star
spaceship which takes us to and fro. That's not all, in order to cut
through traffic etc as fast as possible, we get a cop car in front of
us with the flashing lights and all telling people to get out of the
way whilst out bus cruises behind it...just like a presidential
escort!!

More laters....sorry for any typos...had to type fast.........

All African Games Kenyan Contigent

2011-08-23T16:27:00.003+03:00

Chess was the last discipline to name it's team to the AAG. After a two day marathon the old dogs of Kenyan chess made it to the finals.

Men’s Team:

Part of the men's team during a previous event.

Mehul Gohil
Martin Gateri
Joseph Atwoli
Ben Magana
Githinji Hinga (reserve)

Women’s Team:

Isabelle Asiema
Rehema Kimulu
Gweyani Jumba
Purity Gachigi
Rose Wabuti (reserve)

Team Manager: Francis Ngesa

Team Coach: John Mukabi

Steve Ouma Sets The Record Staight

2011-03-17T11:27:00.005+03:00

After too much mud slinging Steve ouma finally gives his point of view.

By Steve Ouma

My fellow Chess players:

I believe all of us know that prolonged lie sometimes sound like truth. Also it has been believed that silent means concurring with whatever has been said. I want to take this moment to set the records straight.

1. On the allegations from John Mukabi whom I used to have alot of respect for him that Larry and I have been organizing Junior events and pocketing the Money, Ladies and Gentlemen this is false since the Youth Committee has been running Junior events since the Year 2009 and the treasurers to the accounts have been parents, all the records of the tournaments are intact and will be presented to the auditors, furthermore to withdraw the money from the accounts all the three signatories must sign.

2. On the allegation that Larry and Steve were opposed to the opening of the Youth Account, this is false because it is on record that I am the one who pushed for a separate account that can be handled by parents for transparency.

3. On the allegation that I went to the Commissioner to ask for an Air ticket, this is false as I never requested for a single ticket from the government , in addition there was no ticket given.

4. On the allegation that the last tournament raised a lot of money and we pocketed and that expenses were amounting to Ksh 5,000, this is false because just to give you a brief of the expenses: venue alone cost us Ksh 14,000, Trophies Over Ksh 16,000, Certificates to all participants over Ksh 4,000 just to mention but a few.

My fellow players, I personally tried to respond to this by directly trying to call Mukabi, but as always the guilt are afraid, he did not receive my call, I was within my rights to call him because I believed that what he had tried to do was to give malice information which is meant to Character assassinate me and to portray me negatively in public. I did not issue any threats since Issuing threat is an of fence and he should report to the police. All I told him which I can confidently repeat it is that I may consider legal redress, I have the whole conversation with Him. I have never responded to previous allegation not that because I am guilt but I was hoping that most of us will be able to differentiate between malice and truth.

Chessmen and ladies, I may not be in office tomorrow, we should not burn bridges as we will need each other in some other areas. Eg. You may need me during transition since I am in charge of youth activities. Mukabi also had said that Larry and myself are doing this for personal gain, it is no secret I am a qualified Fide Instructor ( FI) as well as Fide Arbiter F.A.

It is therefore within my rights to organize events and to train just like in other sports there are coaches and referees who earn their living from there careers of coaching, I am proud to let you know that I earn my living from chess training, I am a professional chess trainer, let us not belittle the sport we passionately love. I will continue to protect my rights as a Kenyan Citizen even if it means Legal redress. Fellow players and stake holders lets sober up in our opinions towards developing this sport and avoid hatred. lets respect FIDE slogan: Gens una sumus: we are one family.

All African Games Dilemma

2011-03-17T11:14:00.003+03:00

The current salemate about Chess Kenya leadearship seems to have placed the inclusion of a chess team at the forthcoming AAG in a quandary. Some sources claim that the Kenya National Sports Council has told CK to put its house in order before a chess team can be included while CK is sending letters to players informing that the qualifiers are still on. Let us wait and see

The Tragedy Of Chess Kenya

2011-03-03T18:25:00.000+03:00

The new chess season is about to begin but who is really managing kenyan chess? CK did not hold the national championships last year: They were too busy minting 'Tritonite' kids money. With the All African games nearby the scent of more cash is irresisteble.

By Edwin Korir

Chess kenya has finally released its program of events for the calendar year 2011. The document signed by the chess kenya secretariat is bound to upset many local players due to the fact that most players consider the current office holders illegal. The Kenya national sports council has organized two meetings in the past to arbitrate the matter. On both occasions the meetings ended in a stalemate or a +/- advantage for Chess Kenya.

The first meeting in December nearly ended in a fist fight while another one held last month failed to take off due to the abscence of the CK officials. While chess players have been insisting that all players who participated in the national chess league should be allowed to vote in the AGM, CK on its part has been consistent that only registered members will vote. Most Senior chess players are not members of CK but are members of chess clubs registred with CK. Majority of CK members are juniors of kenyan Asians (mostly reffered to as 'tritonites').

The parents of this kids are not intrested in development of chess in kenya but the development of the childrens brains and a few junior international tournaments that CK seems to be a specialist at. The children start playing chess at early age but when they turn 18, they simply evaporate. The current kenyan chess scene has only one senior 'tritonite' ( no pun intened). Because most of kenyan Asian parents have no qualms about paying CK fees, CK has metarmophosed into some sort of chess day care centre.

In the December AGM comical discussions were held at the kenya chess forum. Several scenarios emerged with a possibility of six and seven year old kids electing the new CK officals. Alas, this dommsday scenario never took-off. Senior chess players having been abandonded by their parents have been forced to scavenge for themselves to avoid chess starvation. Several initiatives have been put in place to ensure chess food is put on the table. Checkmates club, Nairobi chess club and others have been organizing rapid and blitz championship on a regular basis. No G+90 tournament has taken place though.

With no proper body to organize tournaments all kinds of titles are mushrooming. Kenya blitz champion ( which seems to be contested everyday, EA blitz championships et al). As Wachira aptly puts it "chess is the hardest habit to kick", senoir players have been orgazing tournaments and in a positive note some are now held online.

The only serious activity CK has been undertaking for senior chess is anything that seems to have financial gain for them. First, the National chess league(bucause teams have to register to play=MONEY). Most clubs playing in the league are institutional teams that will pay CK fees with no questions asked. Secondly, the chess olympiad ( the official CK cash cow). Monetary gains from this event are immense; bribes from FIDE cadidates for votes, goverment subsidies, donations and many more.

The caveat emptor most kenyan players are sensing in the newly released CK calendar is money. With the all african games around the coner and the goverment having allocated Ksh 130,000 to each federation CK -get rich or die trying- scheme can be smelt from far.

CK real major failure has been to put in place a rating system. The last one was managed by Ben Magana until he stopped. Several players are trying their own versions of the same. With so many free rating software online one can only imagine why CK is not intrested. Another option would be to outsource the same to an individual or an ICT company, but because this involves use of money it will never happen.

CK failure to hold a national championship last year was to say the least disatrous. The kenya open has not been held for three years. With this and much more we should expect very hard times ahead.

Back To Blogging

2011-02-10T15:10:00.002+03:00

I have been away for sometime (work related issues), but now am back to blogging. I see there is a lot going on at the local chess scene(mostly not chess playing related). Will try to update all in my next post.

Kenya paired against powerhouse Russia in RD 1

2010-09-21T11:23:00.003+03:00

Kenya faces Russia 5 in RD 5. Start time is today 3pm Kenya time. The encounter should prove a very tough challenge for Kenya as the Russia 5 team consists largely of juniors between the ages of 13-20 years who are on the upward swing and have been practising as recently as 2 weeks back in strong open tournaments in Western Europe. Russia 5 team line up is as follows:

1 IM Potapov Pavel 2464 RUS - AGE 20 Years
2 FM Kopylov Alexander A 2438 RUS - AGE 18 Years
3 Savitskiy Sergey 2373 RUS - AGE 15 Years
4 CM Yuffa Daniil 2235 RUS - AGE 13 Years
5 GM Prokopchuk Evgeny 2522 RUS (reserve) - AGE 32 years

The 13 year old Russian on Board 4 is an intriguing phenomenon. He started playing internationally 3 years ago and is on an upward swing. From his recent performance in the Czech International Open held only this month (which means he has had good warm up) the average rating of his opponents was ELO 2362 and he beat or drew with the following calibre of players:

FM Marcel Jorczik Elo 2389 (Beaten by Yuffa)
FM Manfred Heidrich Elo 2329 (Drew with Yuffa)
IM Atanu Lahiri Elo 2353 (Beaten by Yuffa)
FM Jiri Nun Elo 2362 (Drew with Yuffa)

Yuffa Daniil on the right in deep thought. Kenya Board 4 will be
taking on this young russian terror today at 3pm Kenya time.

It appears Yuffa's Elo rating (which jumped up by something like 50 plus elo points at the Czech International Open) of 2235 maybe misleading as he is playing better than that currently.

Fascinating battle in prospect and the Kenyan contingent must be feeling very privileged to be playing a Russian team on their homeground.

Chessdrum publish Dubai 'Airport Olympiad' photos

2010-09-20T17:04:00.002+03:00

Chessdrum continues to outclass the big budget chess websites like Chessbase and Chessvibes by providing amazing Olympiad 2010 coverage. Here are latest photos direct from Dubai Airport as posted on Chessdrum...photos by Nigerian player Lekan Ayedemi:

The Airport Olympiad?

2010-09-20T11:03:00.002+03:00

The chessdrum website (www.thechessdrum.net) is currently providing some of the best information regarding the situation at the Dubai Airport where a number of African teams are holed up. Chessdrum has been in communication with a number of local chess officials accompanying the team and the reports indicate that sections of the airport are swarming with chess battles.

Here is an excerpt from the chessdrum blog detailing an interesting exchange between a Botswana official and Chessdrum webmaster Dr. Daaim Shabaaz:

Just heard from Kenneth Boikhutswane of Botswana who is stranded in the Dubai Airport now…

10:45am Kenny
Hello Daaim! hope you well. You coming to the olympiad?

10:45am Daaim
No. I will not be there. Are you traveling today?

10:48am Kenny
Yeah. Stranded in Dubai airport. Our charter moved to tomorrow and we never received correspondence despite my follwoing up and them confirming that we on the Sunday charter. Got here 5am and we board tomorrow at 0930 for Khanty. Its s big inconvenience, not even sure that we on the 0930 charter despite them confirming again today by email that we on it. you can imagine what it does to the players, 28 hours in the airport!

10:49am Daaim
Yes… there were several changes.

So you cannot disembark? Too expensive?

10:52am Kenny
tried that roiute but way too expensive. would have had to pay visa each at U$157 dollars for 13 people. Hotel here at airport going at U$ 286 for two. There is no guarantee that if we paid we would get refunded despite claims to that, so we decided to play it safe

10:53am Daaim
Ridiculous.

I’m posting this on the blog.

10:54am Daaim
What other federations are there? I hear that the Kenyans are there.

10:56am Kenny
We have Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Burundi, Malawi, and two teams from Asia I have seen. There could be others around the airport i havent seen.

10:59am Kenny
Zambia had their letter infoeming them of the changes dated 16th Sept! I am concerned about whether we will have accomodation as per our payments, especially for the single rooms.

11:00am Daaim
It appears to be very disorganized. Keep me informed. Will you be sending stories to the news?

11:03am Kenny
I will sending out reports to bots on progress of Bots team, as I try to come out of ‘retirement’. I will send you reports as well

11:07am Daaim
I’m sorry to hear about the problems. I have been covering them on The Drum. I penned an essay about the potential problems.

11:10am Kenny
how on earth does someone change flight details 2 days prior to departure as if we are using a bus?its a shame really, coz changing tickets means more costs for federations. and with such a short timeframe, there isnt much one can do

ESPN to cover Team Uganda in Russia

2010-09-19T17:59:00.003+03:00

New Vision and Chessdom are reporting that ESPN is going to exclusively cover the Ugandan National team at this years olympiad.

14 year old Phiona Mutesi who is a part of the ladies squad is going to be the focus of the ESPN attention.

Uganda have the strongest juniors in East Africa and this will be the first time for an African team to be covered by a big sports media organisation.

Team Kenya stranded in Dubai for 24hrs

2010-09-19T16:39:00.002+03:00

The Kenyan contingent to the 2010 Russia Olympiad has not been spared the complexities of the ongoing FIDE Charter Flight scandal. Reports trickling in suggest the team has now been forced to spend 24hrs at the Dubai Airport whilst they wait for the next plane out. Kenyan super-talent Akello Atwoli who is tipped to produce a show-stopping performance alongside players like GM Morozevich and GM Ahmed Adly bluntly stated:

"CK (Chess Kenya) apparently recieved communication from FIDE informing them that our flight to Russia from Dubai had been rescheduled/postponed by 24hrs but they went ahead and brought us here as if nothing had changed. Because of their negligence and carelessness, we will now have to spend a whole 24 hours in the airport basically doing nothing other than sleeping on the floor."

However, it appears this is a world-wide problem as a number of local blogs from Europe to The Carribean to Asia are complaining about last minute changes in the charter flight timetables. Some federations are considering pulling out of the olympiad altogether whilst others have had to incur extra expense in order to sychronise their initial flights with the charter flight changes. It maybe that CK had no other option but to travel on the original date selected. Interestingly, one of Africa's most experienced olympians and Kenya Board 4 player John Mukabi states:

"Strangely enough only African teams are affected!"

The FIDE Charter Flight fiasco is largely considered a symptom of the mismanagement at the top by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The majority of African delegates are expected to vote in favour of the incumbent.

Africa: Too Much Voting Power In FIDE?

2010-09-18T08:49:00.002+03:00

BY Daaim Shabaz

In the upcoming election for FIDE President, there has been a lot of talk about the voting structure of one-nation, one vote. This idea is in line with the democratic ideals of general bodies, but seems to have met the ire of chess pundits and commentators. READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE CHESS DRUM

Top 10

2010-09-18T07:32:00.002+03:00

Here is a list of the top ten visiting nations to this blog in the last one month.

United States (US)	533
Kenya (KE)	334
United Kingdom (GB)	329
Canada (CA)	71
India (IN)	52
Germany (DE)	49
Nigeria (NG)	42
South Africa (ZA)	42
Sweden (SE)	35
France (FR)

Samuel Changole Chebii 1972-2010

2010-09-08T12:01:00.003+03:00

Sammy centre a great chess enthusiast passed away on Sunday september 10 2010. RIP pal.

Magana Wins Crossroads Rapid

2010-09-08T10:55:00.002+03:00

By Collins Young

Ben Magana and Akello Atwoli.

Kenyan Chess players were not left behind by the wave sweeping thecountry as we usher in a new dawn. Most of Kenya’s finestchessplayers gathered at Crossroads Inn in Nairobi’s Enterprise roadfor a rapid version of the noble game. The highly charged contestsgraced by the participation of the national team to the Chess Olympiad(read olympics) starting next week in Russia, saw former nationalchampion Ben Magana steal the show coming tops with 6.5 points out ofa possible seven.

Apparently Magana is semi retired and confessed tonot having practised the last few months; a fact that should worryother players. Following in joint second with 5.5points were SteveOuma and Moses Andiwo having travelled from Nakuru for the one dayevent. On joint forth with 5 points were veterans Martin Oyamo, JohnMukabi and fast rising youngster Mike Rua who had the honour ofscalping the reigning national champion Peter Gilruth in the finalround. The ladies crown was won by Rose Wabuti with Rehema Mariataking the runner –up position.

The tournament although having only 31 contestents was evidently oneof the strongest rapid play tourneys in recent times judging from thestrength of the field – at least 10 olympians former and currentincluding two members of the Kenyan ladies team to the RussianOlympiad. The tourney also saw a number of new faces an encouragingsign for a sport that is creaking from administrative neglect and lackof corporate sponsorship.

The event was the second in series organised by Checkmates ChessCluband private sponsors – mainly players who couldn’t stay for too longwithout chess action and have vowed to make this a monthly event.Other upcoming events on the local scene include a three-day long playevent to be held at the Mombasa Beach Hotel from Oct.9th – 11th, theongoing national league and the national championships provisionallyslated for the Jamhuri weekend in December.

For those not well acquainted with the game, in rapid chess eachplayer has 25 minutes on his clock to finish the game. That meansevery game lasts a maximum 50 minutes. What the time limits mean is ifyou run out of your time before your opponent you lose the game evenif you have more pieces on the board than your opponent.

Thisdiscourages players from thinking ‘forever ‘ . A longer version allowseach player up to two hours to make forty moves. It is the mode thatwill be used at the biennial olympiad where Kenyan teams (6 men & 4women) will compete for honours amongst 160 other national teams in a14 round tourney to run from Sept.19th- Oct 4th.

FIDE Rated Tournament In Kenya

2010-09-03T08:48:00.001+03:00

The annual MOMBASA OPEN CHESS TOUNAMENT will be held on 9th 10th and11th October at Mombasa Beach Hotel. This will be the first time thata chess tournament is organized on a 5 star beach hotel in Kenya. Thetournament will be organized in two groups:

Group A: FIDE rated tournament with limited chances. All FIDE ratedplayers who pay will get a chance automatically whereas unratedplayers who pay first will be given a higher priority.Time controls: 2hrs

Group B: Open to all with unlimited chances.A guaranteed 1st prize of Ksh 30,000/= will be awarded in the FIDErated section.Attractive prizes will be announced later for the runner up and secondrunner up as well as for group B.The registration fee is Ksh 1000/=.

Kenyan Chess Moves Online

2010-08-10T12:04:00.001+03:00

After the closure of Checkmates (the most popular and most active chess club in Kenya), the Kenyan chess scene has now moved online. Most mathches are now organized at playchess.com and the usual suspects are part of it; Mehul, Gtithinji and Soulman. New entrants include Andolo and quite a number of Ugandan players.

Karpov, Kasparov To Visit Angola

2010-08-09T08:43:00.001+03:00

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Luanda — The great Russian masters of Chess, Antoli Karpov and Gary Kasparov are set to arrive in the country in the first week of September to take part in a forum dubbed "The Development of Chess in Africa".
The information was reported by the secretary-general of the Angolan Chess Federation (FAX), Abrão dos Reis. The mini-summit, according to that official, will also address the methods to support the candidature of the chairman of the Angolan Chess Federation, Aguinaldo Jaime, to one of the vice-presidencies of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).
The candidacy of the great Russian master, Antoli Karpov to the future presidency of FIDE is also b discussed during the mini-summit to be held at one of the hotels of the country's capital city.
During the meeting, the chairman of the federations will also examine a single document aimed at granting unconditional support to the Russian candidate to the presidency of the ruling body of chess worldwide.

Obama, Clinton and Chess

2010-07-28T15:20:00.002+03:00

Border Chess Team Prepares To Conquer South Africa

2010-07-28T09:11:00.002+03:00

Original Article

By Atule Joka

BORDER Chess all divisions’ team looks set to be a team to beat at this year’s South African Junior Chess Championships to be held in December, in Pretoria.
The squad which consists of “approximately 70 players” according to their head coach Sven Stocklose, is undergoing meticulous training in various schools around East London. “Besides the two coaching sessions we have for each division every month, we have also lined up inter-provincial games against Eastern Province (EP) in October ahead of the tournament” said Stocklose.
The Border team did not fare well at last year’s tournament and their only highlight was the U/8 team who managed to finish eighth .
“This was the best considering the division they competed in, our U18’s managed to secure a silver medal but it was in the lower division” said Stocklose. Despite a multiple of senior teams in the squad it is surprisingly the U/10s that carry the burden of winning the coveted gold medal.
“I’m optimistic they could bring us the gold, they have matured and are playing the best chess of their lives”, said Stocklose of the team that mostly featured last year’s U/8 players.
Among Stocklose objectives for this year’s tournament is to see more players selected to the national squad. “I am optimistic we will perform better this year, but it will be great to have more of our players having South African colours”.
Rebecca Selkirk, who became the first Border player to receive national junior colours last year, and eventually went to represent South Africa at the Commonwealth Chess Tournament in Delhi, India, is expected to be a key member of the squad .
“Rebecca has participated in a number of international tournaments her experience will spur on the rest of the team and hopefully she will do well in team matches and will hold her own in individual matches” added Stocklose.

Joshua Colas

2010-07-27T12:05:00.003+03:00

Original Article.

WHITE PLAINS — Chess prodigy Joshua Colas has already begun receiving help to fund his upcoming trip to Greece, where he has been invited to represent the United States in the "Boys 12 and Under" level at the World Youth Chess Championship in Halkidiki.

The White Plains Foundation for Public Education is accepting donations to help send Joshua and his father to Greece in October. Total expenses for the two-week tournament are estimated at $5,000. Donations will also help get Joshua a personal chess coach. A top-level coach, a grandmaster, is estimated to cost $7,500 to $10,000 per year.
Joshua also will appear on Fox TV's "Good Day New York" on Wednesday morning, when he will compete live against White Plains Middle School chess team co-captain Michael Ainsworth, 11, in "speed chess."
Joshua is the national champion in speed chess and is ranked No. 1 in the country, and Michael, son of Ray Ainsworth, the middle school's chess coordinator, is ranked in the top 20.
The elder Ainsworth received about 30 telephone calls last week from people looking to help Joshua achieve his goal of becoming the youngest African-American chess master in the world. The White Plains Rotary Club also is interested in Joshua's chess career and has reached out to Ray Ainsworth and the Colas family.
"We have gotten a very positive response overall," Ainsworth said.

Chess Puzzles

2010-07-26T12:29:00.006+03:00

Some gems from chess curosities.

How many consecutive checks(both white and black) can you have in this position?

Can you find a proof game for the above position?

Bobby Fischer

2010-07-26T10:30:00.003+03:00

By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN The New York Times

The life of Bobby Fischer was one strange odyssey, in which he went from chess prodigy -- at 14, the youngest U.S. champion ever -- to the vanquisher of the famed Boris Spassky in 1972 in a match followed around the world, to a fugitive from the United States on charges of violating a trade embargo against Yugoslavia, to an increasingly odd recluse, one who denounced Jews and praised the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. Read more

More Chess Fun

2010-07-22T12:13:00.002+03:00

Narrated Chess can be Hazardous to the Listener

2010-07-22T12:10:00.000+03:00

Speaking as a fan and occasional player of the fascinating International Worldwide Game of Chess, I have a few observations to share.
First, let me say, for us chess fans, computers and the net have revolutionized our experience. My favorite is YouTube which carries wonderful videos made by good chess players who are also good communicators. The video reports of chess matches, classic games, and personal or locational sidelights are entertaining interesting and educational. A wonderful use of the YouTube medium. Read the full article

Chess Fun

2010-07-19T13:57:00.002+03:00

Wole Soyinka Chess Tournament

2010-07-19T13:19:00.003+03:00

Nigerian literaly icon and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka

By Niyi Alebiosu,

Lagos Monday, 19 July 2010

The Nigeria Chess Federation (NCF) has earmarked $100,000 (about N15million) as prize money for the maiden edition of Wole Soyinka International Master Chess tournament to commemorate the 77th birthday anniversary of the Nobel laureate next year.

The tournament which is being initiated by Vice Admiral Jubril Ayinla, (Rtd) Dr. Silvanus Ebigwe, Theophilus Caiafas, Professor Abisogun Leighh, Chief Dave Irabor and the incumbent President of NCF, DCP Sani Mohammed is scheduled to hold from July 10 to 17, 2011 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

Speaking at a media parley in Lagos, Vice Admiral Ayinla said that the tournament would also have a Master Section.

FIDE 2010 Elections:Karpov Vs Kirsan

2010-07-16T10:58:00.003+03:00

An intense but interesting fight expected in forthcoming Fide presidential election.
COME this September, we shall see what will possibly be the most acrimonious presidential contest for the World Chess Federation (Fide) for a long while.

Lining up on one side of the contest is the incumbent president of the world body, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is seeking re-election since first getting elected to the top post in 1995. On the other side is his very worthy opponent, former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov.
When nominations closed at the end of last month for the submission of electoral tickets, the only two teams that met the deadline were that of Ilyumzhinov and Karpov. This means that they will go head-to-head in a direct clash of wills and personality that will see no compromise from either party.

Lined up on Ilyumzhinov’s team are Georgios Makropoulos, Ignatius Leong, Nigel Freeman, Beatriz Marinello and Lewis Ncube.
Makropoulos is the president of the Greek Chess Federation but he is also the Fide deputy president (since 1996). Leong has been the president of the Singapore Chess Federation and the Fide general secretary since 2005. Freeman, the president of the Bermuda Chess Federation, is the current Fide treasurer, a position he has held since 2006. Marinello is a former president of United States Chess. NCube is a former president of the Zambia Chess Federation and presently a Fide vice-president (since 2006).

All of them, except for Marinello, are seeking to be returned to the same positions they are currently holding in the federation while Marinello is seeking to fill a Fide vice-president’s slot.
Karpov’s ticket consists of Richard A. Conn Jr of the United States who is the candidate for deputy president, Ukrainian Chess Federation president Viktor Kapustin who is the candidate for treasurer, Malaysia’s own Abdul Hamid Majid who is the candidate for secretary general, and the two candidates for vice-presidents, Angolan Chess Federation president Dr Aguinaldo Jaime and woman grandmaster Alisa Maric who is also the vice-president of the Belgrade Chess Federation.

As I said earlier, this Fide election may be the most acrimonious in recent years. For the first time in many years, Ilyumzhinov faces a very serious opponent. The credentials of Anatoly Karpov speak for itself. People know him as the 12th world chess champion, having succeeded Bobby Fischer in 1974 and only giving up his world title to Garry Kasparov in 1985. Truly, he is one of the greatest chess players of all time.

However, Karpov’s very attempt at becoming the next Fide president has been full of obstacles, not least from within Russia itself. This is because Fide regulations require all candidates to be nominated by their own chess federations, and only one candidate at any one time.
And therein lies the problem because both Ilyumzhinov and Karpov are from Russia. The problem became even more complicated after both of them claimed to have their federation’s nod.

According to reports, the Russian Chess Federation had narrowly nominated Karpov as its candidate at a meeting in May. A few days later, at another meeting which was purportedly just shy of a quorum, Ilyumzhinov was nominated. The sticky situation became more absurd when the Russian Government sacked the president of the Russian Chess Federation and installed someone else to look after the federation’s affairs.

Lawsuits have also been flying around from both parties. Earlier, Ilyumzhinov had sued Karpov for libel. The former world champion fought back with a suit to force Fide to disclose the nomination forms of Ilyumzhinov’s team. At the heart of the matter was the status of Marinello because it was claimed that she was not a member of either the Chilean or Brazilian chess federations.

If the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, rules in Karpov’s favour, it could mean the automatic disqualification of the whole of the Ilyumzhinov ticket because there’s also another Fide regulation that stipulates that at least one member of a ticket must be a woman candidate. It would be impossible for Ilyumzhinov to replace Marinello at the last minute.
In the meantime, both candidates are continuing to circle the globe to visit national chess federations and drum up support for their teams at the Fide election in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. Yes, it’s going to be an intense but interesting fight indeed.

Vacancy: Chess Job

2010-07-15T09:21:00.002+03:00

From The New York Times

Here’s a job that doesn’t come around everyday. The Peace Corps is seeking a chess coordinator to work in Saint Lucia, the island nation in the Caribbean. The job begins in August and runs for 12 months.
Candidates need to have at least intermediate chess skills, good communication skills, basic computer skills and experience creating community programs.
The job description seems to have been written by a true chess enthusiast:

Saint Lucia faces many challenges including unemployment, crime, and an under-educated population. It is unrealistic to expect any one program to fix all of these issues. However, it is obvious that the country would benefit from a giant infusion of self-discipline, strategic thinking, and increased self esteem. Surprisingly, the beginning of change for this small country of 150,000 people and 238,000 square miles may be connected to a classic game. The needed change may start with the children who take to the game with unbelievable enthusiasm and then spill over to the tight knit communities where they live. The game is chess.

There is no mention of salary, but the job will obviously have a few unusual perks. Anybody want to apply?

"Simutowe Is Africa's Pride"

2010-07-09T12:28:00.002+03:00

GABONESE Chess Federation president Bongo Akanga has described Zambian chess sensation Amon Simutowe as Africa's pride.Speaking ahead of the 2010 FIDE Africa seminar, Akanga said the event should be used as a revival of the continentís chess fortunes."Simutowe is a good chess player who has made Africa proud. It is a good thing for the continent," he said.Akanga expressed delight at the presence of FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for the four-day seminar."This is a very important seminar for Africa as we are going to be with the FIDE president during the deliberations," he said.The four-day event will draw participation from 20 African countries affiliated with the World Chess Federation.Akanga said Gabon shared a mixed football history with Zambia."We have an interesting history with Zambia; they beat us at the Africa Cup and their players died in our country," he said.

Fischer's Body Exhumed

2010-07-09T12:16:00.003+03:00

(Reuters) - The body of former chess champion Bobby Fischer, who died in Iceland two years ago, has been exhumed to provide forensic evidence in a paternity suit, the police said on Monday.
Iceland's Supreme Court ruled in favor of the exhumation in mid-June, overturning the decision of a lower court to deny an earlier request.
In its ruling, the top court said tissue samples were needed to determine the paternity of Jinky Young, the Filipina daughter of Fischer's former lover. Young provided a DNA sample last year during a trip to Iceland.
"This (exhumation) was performed this morning in accordance with the order from the Supreme Court," said Olafur Helgi Kjartansson, chief of police in the southwestern town of Selfoss, where the chess champion was buried.
Fischer, who spent his last years as a fugitive from U.S. authorities because he defied international sanctions against the former Yugoslavia, spent time in the Philippines and Japan before moving to Iceland, where he was offered citizenship in the mid-2000s.
The former child prodigy became the United States' only world chess champion by defeating Soviet masters, but refused to defend his title and relinquished it to the Soviet champion Anatoly Karpov in 1975.
His estate, estimated at around $2 million, has been the subject of a long-running inheritance dispute involving claims by a former wife, two nephews and the U.S. tax authorities.
Fischer died in Reykjavik at the age of 64 after an unspecified illness and was buried near the town of Selfoss, about 60 km (40 miles) east of Reykjavik, in 2008.

Queens' Gambit

2010-07-09T12:12:00.003+03:00

Queen Elizabeth shows President Zuma a chess set given to her by Nelson Mandela.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Blows A Vuvuzela.

2010-07-09T12:03:00.000+03:00

FIDE President, Head of Republic of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov blows the now famous Vuvuzela.

FIDE President In Africa

2010-07-09T11:55:00.003+03:00

From left to right: General Secretary of Kenya Chess Federation Lawrence KAGAMBI, FIDE President and the Chairman of Kenya Chess Federation Andolo AMBASI

On the 7th of July FIDE President, Head of Republic of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov continued his visit to Zambia. He held the working meetings with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Zambia, Mr. Boris Malakhov, the embassy staff, and the permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development, Mr. Teddy Mulonga. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov also spoke at the Administrators seminar for the leaders of African Chess Federations, opened simultaneous game which was continued by GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili. As part of this forum, FIDE President met and discussed the numerous issues of chess development in the African continent with the leaders of chess federations of Malawi, Botswana, Seychelles Islands, Madagascar, Sao Tome and Principe, Rwanda, Burundi, etc.

World Cup South Africa 2010

2010-06-10T18:28:00.002+03:00

June 11 to July 11 2010

Mehul Wins Madaraka Day Rapid Tournament

2010-06-03T18:57:00.005+03:00

The inform Mehul Gohil won the madaraka day rapid tournament held on 1st june at the Crossroads Inn. The somali contigent was also represented for the second tournament in a row.

Mehul Gohil

By George Mwangi.

The madaraka day event took off as scheduled .In a nutshell,Mehul had everyone for b/fast and lunch,congrats once again.

The veterans Khaduli and Kanegeni also had a good show with 6.0 and 5.0 respectively.Also joint with kanegeni at third place were new chess players in the scene, Molid and Hussein,also with 5.0 points.The Atwoli, Obutu and Steve did not perform as well as they usually do.

The Crossroads Inn hosts came through with their promise for free Mbuzi which the chess players devoured with pleasure. They did one better and offered to have us if an arrangement for a win-win situation can be arrived at.

All in all the 25 participants had a good tournament to keep them busy on a holiday.Checkmates chess club is grateful to all those who made the event happen especially the hosts,crossroads, and CK ,for the equipment.Hope to have all of you in bigger tournaments in future.

The Delecious Nyama Choma Offered for lunch.

Results

MEHUL GOHIL 6.5

LARRY KHADULI 6.0

KANEGENI MATHEW 5.0

HUSSEIN 5.0

RICKY SANG 5.0

MOLID 5.0

STEVE OUMA 4.0

WYCLIFFE OBUTU 4.0

SAMUEL MAKUMI 4.0

MARTIN OYAMO 4.0

JACKTON MONY 4.0

DUNCAN MUKONYI 4.0

MAHAT 3.5

AKELLO ATWOLI 3.5

COLLINS YANG 3.0

FRANCIS NGESA 3.0

ISAAC MUKOKO 3.0

LARRY KAGAMBI 3.0

MATTHEW KIAMA 3.0

VINCENT NGENO 3.0

GEORGE MATHEA 2.5

AMOS SIMIYU 2.0

ANTONY STANLEY 2.0

KASSIM AHMED 2.0

ROSE CHEMIAT 1.0

The Lady Who Defeated Nigel Short

2010-06-03T18:52:00.002+03:00

GRACE KIGENI

Capt. Arthur Macaspac Wins USARMY Chess Championships.

2010-05-28T12:21:00.003+03:00

Capt. Arthur Macaspac

FORT MYER, Va.

Capt. Arthur Macaspac needed a little help from a few new friends to win his third crown at the 2010 All-Army Chess Championships.
In the final round of the six-day, 11-round tournament at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, ninth-place finisher Maj. Larry Cox Jr. upset top-seeded and runner-up finisher Spc. Pieta Garrett to open the door for Macaspac.
“I had already won my final game so he had a little pressure,” Macaspac described Garrett’s losing move in the most important match of the tourney. “He hung a piece - very unusual for a chess master. Instead of capturing with a queen, he captured with a rook and he left his unsupported rook possible to attack.
“I saw it unfold.”
Garrett, who finished third here last year and first in the 2009 Inter-Service Chess Championships, quickly realized that his game had gone awry.
“I had a good game and he was putting up a little bit of a fight, but I got around the obstacles and then I finally got into position where I had a big edge,” explained Garrett, 24, of Fort Polk, La. “Then he just got a simple little trick on me and I completely blundered. I dropped a simple little tactic, and after that I was dead lost.
“It just goes to show that you’re never out. I was really confident. Then I played it and my heart dropped.”
Macaspac captured his third All-Army championship with nine victories, one loss and a draw for a total of 9.5 points. Garrett (8.5) finished second, followed by Spc. Nathaniel Rockhill (7.5) of the 38th Division Band in Indianapolis, Sgt. Jhonel Baniel (7.0) of Landstuhl, Germany, Pfc. Ismael Pagan (6.5) of Fort Irwin, Calif., and Staff Sgt. Andre Paradela (6.0) of Dublin, Calif.

Bill Hook(1925-2010)

2010-05-28T12:05:00.005+03:00

Bill Hook

Bill Hook the man who denied kenya a Gold medal in the 1982 olympiad, died recently in his home at Maryland. Hook played with the legendary Saif Kanani in the last round of the 1980 olympiad in Malta.

Hook,William (2210) – Kanani,Saif 06.12.1980

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c5 3.d5 Qb6 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Nbd7 6.Rb1 a6 7.a4 h6 8.Be3 Qb4 9.f3 Ne5 10.Bd2 Qb6 11.f4 Ng6 12.Bd3 Bg4 13.Qc1 Bd7 14.e5 dxe5 15.Bxg6 fxg6 16.fxe5 0-0-0 17.exf6 exf6 18.Nge2 Bg4 19.Be3 Bxe2 20.Kxe2 Qb4 21.Re1 Bd6 22.h3 g5 23.Kf1 g4 24.hxg4 h5 25.g5 h4 26.Bf2 h3 27.gxh3 Rxh3 28.Re4 Qa5 29.Qd1 f5 30.Rh4 Rxh4 31.Bxh4 Qb4 32.Bf2 Qf4 33.Qh5 g6 34.Qh4 Qd2 35.Re1 Bf4 36.Rd1 Bxg5 37.Rxd2 Bxh4 1-0.

Nigel Short Defeated By An Amatuer Lady In Uganda!

2010-05-28T11:40:00.005+03:00

Nigel Short

British Grandmaster and fomer world champion contender Nigel Short lost one game in his 25 game simul in Kampala on Thursday. Short played 25 games of which he won 20, drew 4 and lost 1 to Grace Kigeni in a Siccilian Najdorf.

Short is visiting Uganda as part of the Karpov campaign to head the world chess governing body FIDE.

Nigel Short To Campaign For Karpov In Uganda

2010-05-27T11:23:00.005+03:00

After visiting Kenya a few years ago for holiday, Nigel Short will be back in East Africa to campaign for Antoly Karpov.

Nigel Short

By Douglas Mazune

THE race for the world chess governing body, FIDE Presidency has presented Ugandans with a lifetime opportunity to play against renowned British Grandmaster Nigel Short in Kampala. Nigel, who arrives today, will play exhibition games with several local players as he seeks Uganda’s vote for GM Anatoly Karpov in the election that will be held at the World Olympiad in Russia. Karpov face the incumbent president Kirsan Illumzyinhov.

A press release issued by Uganda Chess Federation (UCF) publicity Vianney Luggya said that the exhibition games are scheduled for tomorrow and Nigel will depart on Friday. Nigel, who challenged former World Champion Garry Kasparov for the world title in 1993, is regarded as the strongest British player of the 20th Century. He will be the first Grandmaster to visit Uganda and play chess with locals in the history of the game in the country. Nigel is a world acclaimed chess columnist, coach and commentator.

He has an International FIDE rating of 2685 and is ranked number 38 in the world. “His visit to Uganda is also meant to rally support for his preferred candidate GM Anatoly Karpov who is standing against Kirsan,” Luggya said. The venue for the exhibition games and the players that will be lined up against Nigel were yet to be named.

Rebecca Selkirk Wins In South Africa

2010-05-20T17:06:00.003+03:00

Rebbeca Selrik

AN EAST London schoolgirl jetted off to India on Friday to represent South Africa at an international chess tournament.Grade 11 Hudson Park High pupil Rebecca Selkirk, 16, the first Border player to receive national junior colours, will be representing South Africa at the Commonwealth Chess Tournament in Delhi . Later this year she jets off to Greece and Botswana for more international tournaments.
Her selection comes after she took part in the South African Junior Closed Tournament in Pretoria last month and walked away with second place in the under 18 girls’ section.

Speaking to the Dispatch before she left for India, Selkirk said she was happy to be given an opportunity to be part of the South African team . “It came as a surprise. I still do not believe it; especially being selected for two other tournaments later in the year,” she said. Selkirk said her love for chess had been motivated by her sister and brother who played chess at primary school. She was later encouraged by a teacher at Hudson Park Primary School, Olwyn Swart. “I carried on with it until today. I did not look back and I don’t think I will ” she said. Since December last year, the teenager has played more than 50 local and national championship games – with some lasting more than four hours.

In December, she played in the South African Individual Junior Chess Championships, where she finished sixth in the under-18 and under-20 girls’ sections. Her victory at the individual championship gained a direct invitation to the South African Closed Tournament . When Selkirk isn’t playing championship matches, she keeps herself busy with league games, coaching new players and learning new strategies to outplay opponents.

“What I like about it is that one learns new skills every day, but I always believe it just needs concentration,” she said. Border Chess Union head coach and development officer Sven Stocklose said Selkirk was the first player from Border to receive full South Africa colours . “She is a very determined, humble young lady with a never-say-die attitude, hard working and she participates in every tournament she is able to,” he said.

Stocklose said he wished her every success in the tournament in India and for the ones coming later in the year. “I am confident that she will again make us proud,” said Stocklose. Father Wayne Selkirk said the family was proud of his daughter’s achievements. “Notwithstanding her achievements, she still makes time to fulfil her responsibilities at school and at home. She deserves to be given the opportunity to represent South Africa.” Selkirk returns from India on May 21 and is expected to attend two other tournaments, in Botswana in August and the World Youth Games in Greece in October

Chess Summer

2010-05-20T16:58:00.004+03:00

By Matt Rosse ( Oxford Times)

It was widely regarded as a mistake for Vishy Anand to agree to play BulgarianVeselin Topalov in Sofia. Last week, however, after a thrilling climax , the Indian, Anand, had won through. Exciting news is that it is widely predicted Anand’s next title defence will be against Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in London in 2012.

Chess is a full-time job for the likes of Anand, Topalov and Carlsen but for some Oxfordshire players, this weekend’s Town versus Gown match will be the last chess they play until the new season starts in October. Others will have already boxed away their pieces and will not give chess a further thought until autumn. For those who want to improve, it would be a pity not to make use of the summer break for study.

Do not presume this just means work on openings — even though such learning can bring instant results. There are many roads to improvement, and studying endings can be as important as tweaking one’s opening repertoire.

To me though, the average club player’s most glaring deficiency is in tactical ability and one of the fastest ways to improve this aspect of one’s game is to play online speed chess.
Then again, there are the games collections which populate every keen player’s shelves and which represent the other, more civilized, end of chess education.

In grandmaster Danny Gormally’s entertaining and recently published book for Everyman Chess, Play Chess like the Pros, the author notes that world-class players “have a far greater knowledge of chess culture and history”. With this in mind, a study of any of Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors series would undoubtedly improve the club player’s results.

Neil McDonald’s The Giants of Power Play is another recently published book which draws upon the works of the past masters. His earlier work Giants of Strategy had used the games of Kramnik, Karpov, Petrosian, Capablanca and Nimzowitsch. In contrast, Power Play concentrates on the more dynamic play of Topalov, Geller, Bronstein, Alekhine and Morphy. McDonald is one of my favourite chess authors and is here erudite and entertaining; but does not pitch as high as Kasparov and this book might better suit the average player. McDonald calls the following 150-year-old classic “a wonderful, if lightweight game”.

White: Paul Morphy Black: Duke of Brunswick and Count of Isouard

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4?! 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3! Qe7 8.Nc3 White could have grabbed a pawn with 8.Qxb7, answered by 8…Qb4+, after which Morphy would have won a long endgame and the game would have been forgotten.
8...c6 9.Bg5 b5? McDonald calls 9...b6 the ‘most solid’ of Black’s alternatives.
10.Nxb5! cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.0–0–0 Rd8 13.Rxd7! Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6 15.Bxd7+ Nxd7 16.Qb8+! Nxb8 17.Rd8 1-0.

Angola, Potugal Sign Chess Agreement

2010-05-20T16:53:00.001+03:00

Luanda – The Angolan Chess Federation (FAX) and its Portuguese counterpart (FPX) are expected to sign on Wednesday, in Luanda, a co-operation protocol in the training fields with Portuguese experts and exchange of experience in training centres.

This was said to ANGOP on Tuesday by the secretary-general of FAX, Abraão dos Reis.

Abraão dos Reis said that the chairman of the Portuguese Chess Federation, Jorge Antão, is in Luanda for this purpose.
The accord, whose period of validity is undetermined, will be signed before the last round of the CUCA international chess tournament that is taking place in Luanda.

Can Chess Be Solved

2010-05-20T16:43:00.002+03:00

by rjlipton

Computers play great chess—can they play perfect chess?

Ken Thompson is one of the co-inventors of UNIX, perhaps one of the greatest programmers who ever lived, and won the 1983 Turing Award for his important work.
Today I plan on having a guest author, Ken Regan, discuss Thompson’s work on chess playing programs. It is Ken on Ken, or rather Ken on : when Ken (Regan), played at the Westfield (NJ) chess club as a teen in matches against distant clubs, he knew Ken (Thompson) not by his famous programming handle but as the “club techie” who relayed his moves by telex.

I once visited Bell Labs and spent some time talking to Ken T. on his chess program. I asked why he was doing so well—his program was winning a lot. He said his program had, probably, fewer bugs than the competition. In those early days chess programs were often buggy, and a program with a bug is likely to be a program with a chess weakness. The reason, Ken T. explained the programs were so hard to get right was simple: All chess programs looked at a huge set of positions and then generated one move. As long as the move was legal the programmer had no idea the program had made an error—unless the move led to an unexpected loss.
The rest of this is the work of Ken R., who by the way is an international master with a rating of over 2400. With, of course, lots of help from Subruk. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Checkmates Chess Club Maybe Closed Down!!

2010-05-20T16:28:00.004+03:00

The most famous and active chess club in Kenya, Checkmates chess club maybe closed by the end of the month.

Members of checkmates club, (Sitting) Mehul Gohil, Ben Nguku (standing from Right) Ben Magana, Githinji Hinga, Philiph Singe and Akello Atwolli.

By Githinji Hinga

I know this may round like a bad joke, but its serious as a heart attack. Downtown Pub, the home of checkmates club is set to close down in less than a fortnight from now.I had been getting subtle hints for awhile only for Willy, pub manager, to confirm this on Monday evening.We met up with George Mwangi and Willy on Tuesday lunch and agreed he should get contacts and details of the landlord, with an aim of finding out what options are available to keep the place running.

Its important to note, at this time, we got the impression that the owner,mama, had surrendered the place and was not interested.This led to a meet with the landlords' agent yesterday, with Purity,Esther and I in attendance. Basically, we were made to understand they are toying with the idea of converting the place into offices but could also entertain the idea of keeping it 'As Is' but with a new tenant and new terms. He agreed to have a more conclusive stance in our next meeting of 26th. A day after the handover and assessment of the premises.For now, that's the info I have. Looks grim but am sure we can find away out of this one. They say, many heads are better than one, now imagine many chesser heads.

From Famer To Chess Champion

2010-05-17T10:42:00.001+03:00

ByAnupma Tripathi, Hindustan Times

Zambia has produced just one Grandmaster so far, but this little fact hasn't deterred Zambians from taking up chess and dreaming of making it big one day.
Phiri Richmond, from the Zambian capital Lusaka, is one such dreamer. He is here to participate in the Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship.

Born to a family of farmers, the 22-year-old is the youngest of seven siblings. "My family grows and keeps all kind of stuff," says Richmond.
"From keeping pigs, to growing tomatoes, bananas, peas, baby corn and other vegetables."
By his own admission, coming to India and playing the Championship wouldn't have been possible, had it not been for his sponsors who spotted him at the African Ch’ship in 2006. " I finished third in the championship. Later, the Green Eagles Club approached me and I grabbed the offer," said the Zambian champion, who has an ELO rating of 2165.

There's been no looking back for Richmond. In 2006, he clinched gold at the Chess Olympiad in Turin. The African won the 'junior champion' title for two consecutive years (2007-08) and claimed the national championship in 2008.

Interestingly, none of his siblings play chess. But at this point, Richmond is quick to add, " The important thing is they don't stop me from playing either. I remember, in 2004 I was about to quit school for the love of the game. But my parents asked me to quit chess instead. They wanted me to concentrate on studies. That was a difficult experience."
He belongs to Zambia's 'Chewa' tribe, and fluent in the tribal dialect. When asked to say something in his native tongues, Richmond rattles off a line that translates into, " Wait for me. I can make it big."

Kenyan Chess Olympiad History:1980-Corrections

2010-05-17T10:18:00.001+03:00

After i posted my article a few corrections and clarifications have emerged. Saif Kanini lost his passport and was unable to play in the first 2 rounds and on round 14 Kanini could just have skipped the round and walk away with a gold medal! for no one could surpass his 86% score. Part 2 on the 1982 olympiad will be posted this week, send your photos and comments.

Kenyan Chess Olympiad History:1980

2010-05-15T17:13:00.009+03:00

As a build up to the 39th Chess Olympiad to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Kenyan chess blog will be running a fifteen part series of articles about Kenyan chess history in the Olympiad since 1980.

PART One(1980)

By Edwin Korir

Background

The tournament was held from 20th November to 6th December 1980 in the city of La Valletta, Malta. Malta was rewarded to host the 24th Chess Olympiad for its efforts to maintain unity and peace within the FIDE, following the successive Haifa events and the shuttle peace talks by Malta’s representative between the late Harry Golombek (UK) and Libya where the Counter Olympiad had taken place. This was the first time ever that the greatest chess-team manifestation, the 1980 Olympiad, was held in such a small state with a limited budget but nonetheless a great history. A small island in the middle of the Mediterranean with a language of its own, Malta has been participating in International Chess since the 1930’s. It welcomed Alexander Alekhine in 1935 and before World War II had already fielded two Maltese Nationals in Foreign International Events. The playing conditions at the Mediterranean Conference Center were excellent. The players were all comfortably playing in one huge hall whereas the Congress was held in the large theater under the same roof surrounded by the other smaller halls where the other Committees took place. Accommodation and transport were fairly efficient. 83 nations were represented with for the first time under the same roof Israel and Libya, USSR and China!

KENYAN TEAM

Saif Kanini 9.5/12

Adan Aslam 4.5/11

K Donde 1/6

Yongo 5/12

Edwin Kinyajui 4.5/11

S Oulo 0/4

The Kenyan team to the 24th chess Olympiad consisted of Saif Kanini(chessleo), Adan Aslam, Ken Yongo, Ken Donde, Edwin Kinyanjui (1st reserve) and Ken S. Oulo(2nd reserve). Kenyan chess governing body had recently been affiliated with FIDE, other countries that had recently joined include Antigua, Brunei, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal and Zimbabwe thus increasing the number of affiliated nations to 114. Saif Kanini playing on board one scored the highest position ever achieved by a Kenyan when he won silver with a score of 9.5/12. He won 9, drawed 3 and lost 1. His tournament performance rating was 2402. Kenya emerged at position 70 with a score of 14.5/56 after winning 18, drawing 13 and losing 25. The second best Kenyan was Edwin Kinyanjui at position 34 (+3=5-5), he was followed by Adan Aslam at position 59 (+2=5-4). Yongo (+4=2-6) and Donde (+1=0-5) followed. S Oulo who was second reserve scored a miserable +0=0-4.

Bobby Fishers score sheet in a previous Olympiad

ROUND ONE
KENYA(0) MONGOLIA(4)

The David-Goliath parings of round one was not favourable to Kenya. The top two Kenyans Saif kanini and Adan Aslam did not play in this round but were replaced by the reserves. This was due to Kanini loosing his passport on his way to Malta.

Ken Yongo(0) Myagmarsuren(1)

Peruv Yumurbator(1) Ken Donde(0)

Edwin Kinyanjui(0) Peruv Jigjidsuren(1)

Lhagua Jambaidoo(1) Ken Oulo(0)

[White "Yongo KEN"] [Black "Myagmarsuren, Lhamsuren MGL"][Result "0-1"][Date "1980.11.20"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.Bd3 O-O 9.O-O a6 10.a4 Re8 11.Re1 Nbd7 12.Bf4 Qc7 13.Qc2 Nh5 14.Be3 Ne5 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.Rf1 Nf4 17.g3 Nxd3 18.Qxd3 Qe7 19.f3 f5 20.Rae1 fxe4 21.fxe4 b5 22.Qd2 Bh3 23.Rf2 Qd7 24.Ne2 bxa4 25.Bf4 Bh8 26.Nc3 Bd4 27.Be3 Bxc3 28.Qxc3 Rxe4 29.Rf4 Rae8 30.Bd2 Rxe1+ 31.Bxe1 Qe7 32.Bd2 Qe2 33.Qf3 Qxd2 34.Re4 Qc1+ 0-1

ROUND TWO
KENYA(0.5) MALTA(3.5)

After the round one humiliation Kenya scored its first draw aganaist the home country. Ken Yongo was the man who scored the points. The top two pair of Kanini and Aslam did not still play so the two reserves got their chance to play.

Wilfred Attard(0.5) Ken Yongo(0.5)

Ken Donde(0) Henry Camilleri(1)

Andriano Gounder(1) Edwin Kinyanjui(0)

Ken Oulo(0) Joseph Gauici(1)

[White "Gouder, Adriano MLT"][Black "Kinyanjui, Edwin KEN"][Result "1-0"][EventDate "1980.11.20"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 Nc6 7.Be3 e6 8.O-O Qc7 9.Kh1 Be7 10.f4 O-O 11.Qe1 b5 12.a3 Bb7 13.Bd3 Rfe8 14.Qg3 Bf8 15.e5 dxe5 16.Nxc6 Bxc6 17.fxe5 Nh5 18.Qg5 g6 19.Bf4 Qb7 20.Rae1 Nxf4 21.Rxf4 Rac8 22.Be4 Be7 23.Qg3 Bxe4 24.Nxe4 Rxc2 25.Qf3 Qc6 26.Rxf7 Rc1 27.Rxc1 Qxc1+ 28.Qf1 Qxb2 29.Nd6 Bxd6 30.exd6 Qxa3 31.d7 Rf8 32.Rxf8+ Qxf8 33.Qxf8+ Kxf8 34.d8=Q+ 1-0

[White "Oulo, S. KEN"][Black "Gauci, Joseph MLT"][Result "0-1"][ECO "B52"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.O-O Nc6 6.c3 Nf6 7.Re1 e6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d5 10.e5 Ng8 11.a3 Nge7 12.Ng5 h6 13.Nf3 h5 14.Ng5 Nf5 15.Be3 Be7 16.Nf3 Bd8 17.b4 Bb6 18.Qd3 Rc8 19.Nbd2 Bd8 20.Nb3 b6 21.Rec1 Nxe3 22.fxe3 O-O 23.Qb5 Nxe5 24.Qxd7 Rxc1+ 25.Nxc1 Nxd7 26.Nd3 b5 27.Rc1 Nb6 28.Kf2 Nc4 29.Rc3 Bf6 30.Nc5 Rc8 31.Nd7 Be7 32.Nde5 f6 33.Ng6 Kf7 34.Nf4 g6 35.h4 Nd6 36.Rxc8 Nxc8 37.Ne1 Nd6 38.Ned3 Nc4 39.Nc5 Bxc5 40.dxc5 Nxa3 41.Nd3 Nc4 42.Ke2 0-1

ROUND THREE
KENYA(1.5) HONKONG(2.5)

The gradual rise of Kenya in terms of points countinued in round three. Saif Kanini entered the fray to score the first win for Kenya. Adam Aslam did not play in this round but was deputised by Edwin Kinyanjui who scored the half a point.

Kanani Saif(1) Kan Wai Shui(0)

Chao Philip(1) Yongo KEN(0)

Donde KEN(0) Luk Luen Wah(1)

Camm M(0.5) Kinyanjui Edwin(0.5)

ROUND FOUR
KENYA(1.5) ANGOLA(2.5)

Edwin Kinyanjui was the sole point winner for Kenya in this round with Kanini drawing. Aslam played his first game while Dode rested. Kinyanjui after the win had scored a respectable 1.5/4. Donde rested for nearly the rest of the tournament probably due to ilness.

Kanani, Saif(0.5) Fonseca de Oliveira, Mario Silas(0.5)

Adao Domingos, Agostinho(1) Adam, Aslam(0)

Kinyanjui Edwin(1) Ferreira, Rogerio(0)

Marques Alves, V(1) Oulo S. KEN(0)

[White "Kanani, Saifudin KEN"] [Result "1/2-1/2"][Date "1980.11.23"]

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.Qe2 Nf6 9.Rd1 e5 10.h3 O-O 11.Be3 Be6 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.Rac1 Rc8 14.b4 a6 15.b5 axb5 16.Qxb5 Qe8 17.Qb3 Qd7 18.Ng5 Nd8 19.Na4 Rc6 20.Nc5 Rxc5 21.Rxc5 h6 22.Nf3 Qe8 23.Rc7 Nxe4 24.Qb4 Nf6 25.Nxe5 Nd5 26.Rxd5 exd5 27.Rxe7 Qxe7 28.Ng6 Qf6 29.Nxf8 Kxf8 30.Qd2 Qe6 31.Qa5 Ke7 32.Bd4 g6 33.Qc7+ Qd7 34.Bf6+ Ke8 35.Bxd8 Qxd8 36.Qxb7 Qg5 37.Qb2 Qe5 38.Qd2 g5 39.Kf1 Kd7 40.Qc2 Qa1+ 41.Ke2 Qe5+ 42.Kd1 Qd4+ 43.Kc1 Qa1+ 1/2-1/2

ROUND FIVE
KENYA(2) MONACO(2)

As kenya dropped down in the Swiss system, their games were bound to get easier. Kenyas next oppoents were the kingdom of Monaco; more known for Formula One than chess. The top two scored the points for kenya.

Caruana, Marcel(0) Kanani, Saifudin(1)

Adam, Aslam(1) Negro, Roberto(0)

Girault, Eric(1) Yongo K(0)

Kinyanjui, Edwin(0) Lepine, Robert(1)

The tournament Logo

ROUND SIX
KENYA(3.5) UGANDA(0.5)

The two East African neighbours met in round six. Kenyans ran rout aganaist Uganda with only Kinyanjui dropping half a point.

Kanani Saif(1) Zabasajja, Willy(0)

Musasira O(0) Adam, Aslam(1)

Yongo K(1) Mungyereza Amos(0)

Kamuhangire Silver(0.5) Kinyanjui Edwin(0.5)

ROUND SEVEN
KENYA(2) LIBERIA(2)

At the halfway stage the bottom teams were now battling it out at the lower boards. Kenya's next opponents Liberia, were the second in three consecutive games aganaist African countries. Kanini continued with his exraordinary perfomance in board one.

Hingary, M(0) Kanani Saif(1)

Adam, Aslam(0.5) Tawengi, Ahmed Ali(0.5)

Elmejbri, Ali Abdoullah(1) Yongo K(0)

Kinyanjui Edwin(0.5) Benohman, Abu Ali(0.5)

ROUND EIGHT
KENYA(1) NIGERIA(3)

Saif Kanini was so far playing like a wizard. With his win in this game he took his tally to 5.5/6! in board one!! In the olympiad!!! While the Nigerians made minced meat out of the remaining kenyan players. Donde played his first game after a 3 game absence.

Omuku, Emmanuel(0) Kanani Saif(1)

Adam Aslam(0) Agusto, Obafunmilayo(1)

Faseyitan, O(1) Donde K(0)

Oulo S(0) Ayoola, O(1)

ROUND NINE
KENYA(3) BERMUDA(1)

The Swiss system was throwing Kenya up ad down the board. Kenya's next opponents, BERMUDA were demolished by a resurgent Kenyan team. The top two boards had strong players thus Kanini and Aslam drew their games. The bottom two pair did not dissapoint though.

Harris, Derek(0.5) Kanani Saif(0.5)

Adam Aslam(0.5) Radford, Michael(0.5)

Dill, James(0) Yongo K(1)

Donde K (1) Tee, Joseph(0)

ROUND TEN
KENYA(1.5) MALTA 2(2.5)

Kenya faced the second malta team losing closely. The top two boards provided the points with Kanini continuing with his extraodinary perfomance; the current score 7/8.

Kanani, Saif(1) Psaila, Mario(0)

Thake, Conrad(0.5) Adam, Aslam(0.5)

Yongo K(0) Vasallo, Ray(1)

Borg, Andrew(1) Donde K(1)

ROUND ELEVEN
KENYA(1.5) JAPAN(2.5)

The points in this round were scored by Kanini and Aslam. Kanini's score now 8/9!

Gonda, Gentaro(0) Kanani, Saif(1)

Adam, Aslam(0.5) Takemoto, Hiroshi(0.5)

Shiraki, T(1) Yongo K(0)

Kinyanjui Edwin(0) Sakurai, Takayuki(1)

ROUND TWELVE
KENYA(3) Papau New Guinea(1)

Saif Kanini was temporarily halted in this round only managing to draw his game same as Aslam. Boards 3 and 4 scored maximum points aganaist the Pacific Islanders.

Kanani, Saif(0.5) Whyte, B(0.5)

Hothersall, Richard(0.5) Adam Aslam(0.5)

Yongo K(1) Marko Helmut(0)

Puru, Bill(0) Kinyanjui Edwin(1)

ROUND THIRTEEN
KENYA(1.5) ANDORRA(2.5)

In the penultimate round, Kanini picked up another point to take his score to an amazing 9.5/11!

Santamaria Mas(0) Vicens Kanani, Saif(1)

Adam Aslam Clua(0) Ballague, Miguel(1)

Pantebre Martinez, Jose Antonio(0.5) Yongo K(0.5)

Kinyanjui Edwin(0) De la Casa, Angel(1)

ROUND FOURTEEN
KENYA(2) BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS(2)

In the last round Kanini was playing the game aganaist the leading player of the tournamet, william Hook of the british Virgin Islands. Hook had 10.5 points while Kanini had 9.5 and required a win to ensure a shared top finish. He instead dropped the only point in the Olympiad but that left him second in board 1. Kenya's point were scored in board 3 and 4.

Hook, William(1) Kanani, Saif(0)

Adam, Aslam(0) Jarecki, John(1)

Georges, Elton(0) Yongo K(1)

Kinyanjui, Edwin(1) Solomon, Raymond(0)

[White "Hook, William IVB"] [Black "Kanani, Saifudin KEN"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "1980.12.06"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c5 3.d5 Qb6 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Nbd7 6.Rb1 a6 7.a4 h6 8.Be3 Qb4 9.f3 Ne5 10.Bd2 Qb6 11.f4 Ng6 12.Bd3 Bg4 13.Qc1 Bd7 14.e5 dxe5 15.Bxg6 fxg6 16.fxe5 O-O-O 17.exf6 exf6 18.Nge2 Bg4 19.Be3 Bxe2 20.Kxe2 Qb4 21.Re1Bd6 22.h3 g5 23.Kf1 g4 24.hxg4 h5 25.g5 h4 26.Bf2 h3 27.gxh3 Rxh3 28.Re4 Qa5 29.Qd1 f5 30.Rh4 Rxh4 31.Bxh4 Qb4 32.Bf2 Qf4 33.Qh5 g6 34.Qh4 Qd2 35.Re1 Bf4 36.Rd1 Bxg5 37.Rxd2 Bxh4 1-0

Conclusion.
The 1980 Olympiad was all about Saif Kanini. His acomplishments have not been equaled and may not be in our generation. Part two will look at the 1982 Olympiad.

Chess Olympiad 2010: History

2010-05-15T11:13:00.002+03:00

The 39th Chess Olympiad will be held in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia from September 19 - October 4.

The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.

Birth of the Olympiad

The first Olympiad was unofficial. For the 1924 Olympics an attempt was made to include chess in the Olympic Games but this failed because of problems with distinguishing between amateur and professional players. While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st
unofficial Chess Olympiad also took place in Paris. FIDE was formed on Sunday, July 20, 1924,
the closing day of the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad. FIDE organised the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London. The Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.

Growth of Chess Olympiads

There were 16 participating nations in the 1st Chess Olympiad, 1927. By the 37th Chess
Olympiad, 2006, there were 133 participating nations. The olympiad was created by a Maltese man by the name of Joseph Pisani-Rossi.

Competition

Each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad (for the UK one team for each of the four countries plus Guernsey and Jersey can enter a team separately).Each team is made of up to six players, four regular players and two reserves (changed to 4+1 in Dresden 2008).Initially each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years this became impossible. At first team seeding took place before the competition.Later certain
drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976 a Swiss tournament system was adopted.
The trophy for winning the men's team is the Hamilton-Russell Cup,which was offered by the
English magnate Frederick Hamilton-Russell as a prize for the 1st Olympiad (London 1927).

The cup is kept by the winning team until the next event, when it will be consigned to the next
winner. The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup the first
Women's World Chess Champion.The 2008 Olympiad was held in Dresden, Germany.The 2010 Olympiad is going to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, and the 2012 Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey . The bids for the 2014 Olympiad includes Tromso, Norway and Albena, Bulgaria.

Men's Olympiads

Year /Event /Location /Gold /Silver /Bronze
1924 1st unofficial Chess OlympiadThe Chess Olympiad (individual) Paris, France Czechoslovakia 31 Hungary 30 Switzerland 29

1926 2nd unofficial Chess OlympiadThe Team Tournament(part of FIDE summit) Budapest, Hungary Hungary 9 Yugoslavia 8 Romania 5

1927 1st Chess Olympiad London, United Kingdom Hungary 40 Denmark 38.5 England 36.5

1928 2nd Chess Olympiad The Hague, Netherlands Hungary 44 USA 39.5 Poland 37

1930 3rd Chess Olympiad Hamburg, Germany Poland 48.5 Hungary 47 Germany 44.5

1931 4th Chess Olympiad Prague, Czechoslovakia USA 48 Poland 47 Czechoslovakia 46.5

1933 5th Chess Olympiad Folkestone, United Kingdom USA 39 Czechoslovakia 37.5 Sweden 34

1935 6th Chess Olympiad Warsaw, Poland USA 54 Sweden 52.5 Poland 52

1936 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiadnon-FIDE unofficial Chess Olympiad Munich, Germany Hungary 110.5 Poland 108 Germany 106.5

1937 7th Chess Olympiad Stockholm, Sweden USA 54.5 Hungary 48.5 Poland 47

1939 8th Chess Olympiad Buenos Aires, Argentina Germany 36 Poland 35.5 Estonia 33.5

1950 9th Chess Olympiad Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 45.5 Argentina 43.5 W. Germany 40.5

1952 10th Chess Olympiad Helsinki, Finland USSR 21 Argentina 19.5 Yugoslavia 19

1954 11th Chess Olympiad Amsterdam, Netherlands USSR 34 Argentina 27 Yugoslavia 26.5

1956 12th Chess Olympiad Moscow, Soviet Union USSR 31 Yugoslavia 26.5 Hungary 26.5

1958 13th Chess Olympiad Munich, West Germany USSR 34.5 Yugoslavia 29 Argentina 25.5

1960 14th Chess Olympiad Leipzig, East Germany USSR 34 USA 29 Yugoslavia 27

1962 15th Chess Olympiad Varna, Bulgaria USSR 31.5 Yugoslavia 28 Argentina 26

1964 16th Chess Olympiad Tel Aviv, Israel USSR 36.5 Yugoslavia 32 W. Germany 30.5

1966 17th Chess Olympiad La Habana, Cuba USSR 39.5 USA 34.5 Hungary 33.5

1968 18th Chess Olympiad Lugano, Switzerland USSR 39.5 Yugoslavia 31 Bulgaria 30

1970 19th Chess Olympiad Siegen, West Germany USSR 27.5 Hungary 26.5 Yugoslavia 26

1972 20th Chess Olympiad Skopje, Yugoslavia USSR 42 Hungary 40.5 Yugoslavia 38

1974 21st Chess Olympiad Nice, France USSR 46 Yugoslavia 37.5 USA 36.5

1976 22nd Chess Olympiad * Haifa, Israel USA 37 Netherlands 36.5 England 35.5

1978 23rd Chess Olympiad Buenos Aires, Argentina Hungary 37 USSR 36 USA 35

1980 24th Chess Olympiad Valletta, Malta USSR 39 Hungary 39 USA 35

1982 25th Chess Olympiad Lucerne, Switzerland USSR 42.5 Czechoslovakia 36 USA 35

1984 26th Chess Olympiad Thessaloniki, Greece USSR 41 England 37 USA 35

1986 27th Chess Olympiad Dubai, UAE USSR 40 England 39 USA 38

1988 28th Chess Olympiad Thessaloniki, Greece USSR 40.5 England 34.5 Netherlands 34.5

1990 29th Chess Olympiad Novi Sad, Yugoslavia USSR 39 USA 35.5 England 35.5

1992 30th Chess Olympiad Manila, Philippines Russia 39 Uzbekistan 35 Armenia 34.5

1994 31st Chess Olympiad Moscow, Russia Russia 37.5 Bosnia/Herzegovina 35 Russia II 34.5

1996 32nd Chess Olympiad Yerevan, Armenia Russia 38.5 Ukraine 35 USA 34

1998 33rd Chess Olympiad Elista, Russia Russia 35.5 USA 34.5 Ukraine 32.5

2000 34th Chess Olympiad Istanbul, Turkey Russia 38 Germany 37 Ukraine 35.5

2002 35th Chess Olympiad Bled, Slovenia Russia 38.5 Hungary 37.5 Armenia 35

2004 36th Chess Olympiad Calviá, Spain Ukraine 39.5 Russia 36.5 Armenia 36.5

2006 37th Chess Olympiad Turin, Italy Armenia 36 China 34 USA 33

2008 38th Chess Olympiad Dresden, Germany Armenia 19 Israel 18 USA 17

2010 39th Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

2012 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul, Turkey

Nigeria Suspend Olympiad Training

2010-05-15T10:55:00.002+03:00

The Late Nigerian President.

The Angola Chess Federation (FAX)’s secretary for marketing, António Santos, on Thursday here announced that the training programme that the Nigerian national chess team were to carry out in Angola has been postponed due to the death of that country’s president, Umaru Yar'Adua.

The Nigerian grand master Adulape Adu was also to participate in the Cuca International Tournament.António Santos revealed that the Nigerian team will actually fulfil their training programme in Angola as soon as the mourning period in Nigeria ends. Nigeria are set to participate in the Olympic tournament from September 20 to October 04, in Russia.

The former Nigerian President, Umaru Yar’Adua passed away on May 05, aged 58.

Chess In Somalia

2010-05-14T15:02:00.008+03:00

Although torn apart by more than two decades of civil war, chess is still well and kicking in Somalia. A next door neighbour to Kenya, we may find a way to play in a tournament.

Images often associated with Somalia

Somali youths will have yet another thing to pass their tough times and perhaps develop their mental capacities and promote peace as schools in Mogadishu now started to hold regular chess contests among their students, thanks to an initiative by local schools chess association.
The first of its kind, the contests which kicked off on Thursday bring together chess players from a number of schools in Mogadishu who will be competing one another for the next week.
Held in Mogadishu, the opening ceremony was attended by senior Somali government officials including the Deputy Speaker of Somali parliament Omar Dalha, head of Somalia’s Olympic Committee, Aden Haji Yeberow Wiish, and the leader of Somalia’s Chess Federation, Ahmed Abdi Hassan Wata.

Somalia Chess Federation which is a member of the International Chess Federation has organized the event for the local Mogadishu Schools Chess Association, the only schools chess organization in the war-torn country.
Sports is very much appreciated in the chaotic country where most of the facilities have either been destroyed or changed into military bases by the warring sides in the Somali civil conflict that raged for the past two decades.
“Chess is not only a sport and past time but is also a mental exercise that will definitely stimulate the young brain and we hope this will contribute to the healthy development of our young people, and promote peace in our country” Said wata, the top official of Somali Chess Federation, as he spoke during the opening ceremony of the Mogadishu Schools Chess Contest.

The Somalia chess scene

Other dignitaries who spoke at function praised the Somali Chess Federation for its initiative to organizes the chess contest and for encouraging the youth to take up the sport which many of the officials, agreed help promote peace in the war torn country.
Dozens of enthusiastic young students from different schools soon started tussling at each other as they pondered over the chess board and made their deliberate and thought of moves to checkmate their opponent.
“I have been practicing chess for the past several months for this contest and I am very hopeful that I will win over my opponent in this game,” Twelve year old Muse Ali, said as he made his move.

Parents and teachers were watching over the games anxiously and urging the students as they played the game which one of the teachers attending said would help the young not only enjoy the sport and improve their mental capacity but it will help move them away from the fighting and wars currently going in their country.
“This is what will help them divert their attention from the bad things that are going all around them and help them get along will each other,” Yasin Omar, a teacher at the contest told Xinhua.
“We hope all the schools in Somalia would take to chess and allow their students to play this very important game that will be of benefit not only to them but to society in general,” Omar added.
This is the first time but will not be the last time, promises Wata, such contest is organized for schools in Somalia where the national education system and sport have been destroyed by two decades of civil war in the Horn of African country.

Daaim Shabazz Visiting Kenya

2010-05-12T23:12:00.002+03:00

Dr Daaim Shabazz founder of chess drum will be visiting Kenya starting on sunday. More details to follow.

World Chess Championships 2010: Anand Wins.

2010-05-12T12:21:00.002+03:00

After playing exhaustive chess for over three decades, Viswanathan Anand has assured himself a place among all time greats as he retained the World Champion title with consummate ease against Veselin Topalov in his own den in Sofia, Bulgaria on Tuesday.

With the win Anand has accomplished something which no other chess great, not even Garry Kasparov has done.

He has asserted his supremacy in the world by winning the title in every possible format of tournament including winning the world chess title three times in a row and against various opponents including two different ones in match format.

He has won in knock-out, round-robin and two matchplay formats to give an apt answer his critics that he cant stand the test of time.

Anand now has to his credit a rare combination of the consecutive three World Champion title and four in all including the knockout format that he won in 2000.

Anand started playing chess at the age of six and won his first national title in the sub-junior tournament with a record cent per cent score of 9/9 points in 1983-84. And there was no looking back since then.

As his success juggernaut was set rolling, he was tied for second place and awarded the bronze medal in the World sub-junior Championship in 1984 and became the Asian Junior (under 19) Champion in 1983-84.

He also became the International Master at 15, the youngest Asian to achieve this distinction. He was crowned the youngest national champion at the age of 16 in 1986 and in 1987, he became the first Asian to win the World Junior Championship when it was held at Baggio city in Philippines.

It was coincidental that Anand spend some time in Philippines as a young child when his father was there.

He earned the Grandmaster title in 1987 only making two GM norms in quick time in India itself. The country had found its first son in chess. The first Grandmaster in 700 millions at that time.

The Indian chess ace, popular as 'Tiger from Madras', won the strongest tournament at that time, The "Reggio Emilia" in Italy in 1991 ahead of Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.

Founders Memorial Tournament Photo.

2010-05-10T19:32:00.001+03:00

I know beer is my worst enemy but god said love your enemies!!

World Chess Championships 2010: Anand-Topalov

2010-05-10T19:28:00.003+03:00

The roller coaster in Sofia goes on. With one game to play the score stands at 5.5-5.5. Follow the games live on the official site and susan polgars blog.

World Chess Championships: Quotes

2010-05-04T23:39:00.001+03:00

The Chess Ninja daily dirt blog has some really interesting comments when the World chess championships games are going on here are a few gems and more can be read on the site

1. "Shipov, Anand, those patzers, what do they know.. In any event, this endgame is extremely interesting."

2. "Danailov and Sergiev are rather letting us down when it comes to crazy, paranoid statements...."

3. Before I went to Sofia I looked at the "In Your Pocket" guide to Sofia, which has a "Guide to Bulgarian lifestyle, bars, clubs and discos". The first 7 points are: http://www.inyourpocket.com/bulgaria/sofia

>Try not to stare at women that are accompanied by their boyfriends, no matter how beautiful they are, it might be taken as an insult.
> Try to avoid conflict if you notice Bulgarian people stare at your wife/girlfriend, or at yourself, usually they will be just curious. Don’t forget some 19 years ago the majority of people didn’t even meet foreigners from beyond the ironcurtain, so you are still new and exciting. Bravo! 3. Don’t try to act overly macho, particularly in more provincial towns or cities. Unless of course you are Mike Tyson.
> When in a bar do not shout or insult the waiters or other staff members, it may be taken very deeply.
> If you feel that someone is in some way being threatening or intimidating to you, it is often best to befriend them. In many cases locals feel threatened by foreigners and try to show themselves as tough but when you act as equals and friends they will often almost immediately drop this façade.
> If however a conflict situation rises, leave immediately. Do not stay around and add on to the fire. Bulgarians are very social and family driven and under a common goal a big group of people is summoned very fast.
> Good icebreakers are compliments on the country: The food, the football, the women, the inventions created by Bulgarians such as the Cyrillic alphabet and so on. As additional benefit you might get an interesting story or two. Make them talk, they love it."
p.s. if the translation's wrong it's not my personal sense of humour - just that I don't really know Bulgarian! (but it's similar to Russian, and I'm reading a Bulgarian grammar...)

4." endgame almost round the corner. This is the way we used to play when I was 5 year old - going exchanging one after other, reducing to few pieces in about a minute."

5. "25... Kc6 Black is in a very difficult position. To tell you the truth, although the match of such players are always awaiting with big interest and enthusiasm, the strategy for this kind of matches nowadays are rather uninteresting. Players, like Anand or Topalov, or even Kramnik are trying to minimize their risk and play positions with a small plus for White and try to hold a draw in boring and slightly worse endgames."

6. If Anand does hold this game as well, Topalov has to question his strategy of war by attrition.

7. Talking of quotes - Shipov's already included Pushkin and the Communist Manifesto in his comments today :) When he mentions "the window into Europe" it's from "The Bronze Horseman", where Peter the Great stands on some marshland and imagines building St. Petersburg to open Russia to the "West".

8. Slight advantage for white, but I think Anand will draw this. They'll end up with Bishops of opposite color.

9. The first appearance of Kasparov on Shipov's commentary today is to confirm that 28. Bb4 was clearly stronger than 28. Bc3.

10. " 30.h4 Veselin tries to surround the pawn f4 preventing the move g7-g5. But this is dances on the handkerchief – the attempt to picture things which have been lost."

11. Shipov added after 36. Kd4:
"[We were more worried by the line 36.Be5 with the king going to h6. And then we found:36...Ke8 37.Kf4 Kf7!? 38.Kg5 Ba4 39.Kh6 Kg8 and if immediately 40.h5 gxh5 41.Kxh5 - the idea being to play Kg5-h6, g2-g4-g5, Be5-g7!! and g5-g6, breaking through with the king to e7. So at that point black would again switch the roles of the pieces -41...Kf7 42.Kh6 Bc2! - the king goes to g7 and there's a stand-off. Would it be possible to break the line of defence with manoeuvres and zugzwangs? A question for a more leisurely analysis...]

12. I'm following commentary by Shipov as well as S.Polgar. My minor complaint with Susan is how she always has to describe everything from her experience as well. There are times when her experience as a player and as someone who competed in world championship is valuable. Sometimes she should also realize that the game at hand is more important.

13. If "Big Momma" Polgar says its a draw then it should be draw because there is nobody as big an optimistic supporter of Topa (not even "ass-buddy" Danailov) as Momma Polgar!

14. Anand just resigned?

15. What? Anand resigned? Amazing, was he in zugzwang? I can´t believe it. The victory came unexpectedly.

16. 1-0???!!!
Really?! Is that a transmission error?

17. This is fishy!

18. Doesn't white still have work to do here in order to win. Surely...is this for real?

19. Possibly. Kasparov resigned a drawn position against Deep Blue in their 97 rematch. It happens.

20. Chessok gives the following variation:
(56... Bd7 57. Bd4 Be8 58. Bf6 Bd7 59. Bg7 Bc6 60. f4 Bd7 61. g5 Bc6 62. g6 hxg6 63. Kxg6 Bb5 64. Kf6 Bd7 65. Ke7 Bb5 66. d7 {White has a decisive advantage} - Either d pawn will queen or lose the bishop!
B-c6 was the blunder; Black should have played B-d3 instead and then later he can always defend with K-e8.
Topalov won the game based on manouevring instead of attacking style game as is his wont. What Anand will open with after the rest day for game 9 will be telling.
Clearly the momentum has shifted with today's game in Topalov's favor.

21. "Anand just resigned!! Shocking! I know that the position is bad but what is the rush to resign immediately?" -- Susan Polgar

22. Sound of the drumsBeatin' in my heartThe thunder of gunsTore me apartYou've been - Topastruck
Said yeah, it's alrightWe're doing fineYeah, it's alrightWe're doing fineSo fine
Thunderstruck, yeah, yeah, yeah,Topastruck, thunderstruck, Topastruck

22. Oh come on people. Topalov levels the match and inmediately the haters start saying "it´ll be sad if he wins" and "he was lucky to win, Anand´s wins were brilliant whreas Topalov´s were random". What I saw was Topalov playing a fine endgame, pressing very hard to win, as he did yesterday when he play really well, too. If it was Anand on the white side today, people would be saying "Oh look he´s also better in technical endgames, he´s playing like Kramnik, he outplayed Topalov so badly it´s painful to watch" etc.
I´m happy the match is leveled now. We have 5 incredible games waiting for us.

23. Shipov's summary:
"And so, my worst fears have come true. The world champion no longer has the energy to keep his concentration over the course of a whole game. It started just after the opening when he made a strange oversight on his 22nd move and condemned himself to a tough defence. But then Vishy held on stubbornly and, essentially, escaped. But at that moment when he just had to make simple moves (also understandable for a master) and create an impenetrable fortress he, as they say, switched off and allowed the only possible attacking idea of his opponent. A tragedy for Anand!"

24. Of course Topalov outplayed Anand, this was slow torture. Finally, and after yesterday's considerable pressure as well, Anand cracked. If you think that putting a player, even like Anand, under such tremendous pressure for two consecutive games is not outplaying him, in preparation and over the board, then you are simply mistaken because your bias will not let you ever give credit to Topalov for anything.
I mean, come on guys. Don't be such poor sports. When Topalov makes mistakes like in games 2 and 4, it is all Anand's strategic and tactical brilliance - but when Topalov creates these incredibly interesting minefields where one has to defend precisely forever and finally pushes his opponent over the edge it's just a fluke?
This hatred for Topalov is getting boring. I never expected chess fans to become like soccer fanatics, rooting for one's team no matter what and never give ANY credit to the opponent.

25. So many of the comments here seem to say that Anand blunder was a fluke and not really the result of Topalov's play. That simply is a ridiculous opinion to hold. Topalov was applying pressure on Anand's position throughout the game. This coming from a game where Topalov as Black held the initiative was enough psychological pressure that resulted in Anand's superficial play today. If your opponent blunders, it is most likely a result of his/her feeling outplayed. Yes, Anand's wins in game 2 and especially in game 4 are very fine and aesthetically satisfying. Topalov's wins in game 1 and this 8th game are perhaps not as satisfying, but they are wins nonetheless. It's also important to understand that, from game 5, Topalov has staged a real comeback and has seemed to have solved whatever problems he was having with the Catalan, and since game 5, Anand has failed to keep pace with Topalov's resurgence. Hopefully, after the break tomorrow, Anand will find renewed energy to cope with Topalov's seizing of the initiative in this match and take the match into rapid play.

26. From game 5, Topalov has staged a real comeback...Anand has failed to keep pace with Topalov's resurgence.
Fortunately for Anand, now that Topalov has regained confidence he will start to play carelessly again, just as he did after the easy G1 win.

27. Game eight: After surviving playing black twice in a row Veselin Topalov gets the opportunity to go on the offensive in game 8. Topalov and Anand yet again play the Slav Variation Anand used successfully in games 3 and 5. Anand was the first to deviate with 13...Rc8. Topalov was the first in with a novelty, 18.a5. Anand didn't seem to play the best and got a miserable looking position, almost lost if not losing. However Topalov played oddlyand allowed Anand into a bishops of opposite colour endgame. Anand got a completely drawn position and then played 54...Bc6??? which lost almost instantly and he resigned a couple of moves later. In contrast to game 7 both players played poorly. Anand's opening was bad, Topalov didn't press very well and certainly didn't cause Anand's shocking blunder at the end. All very odd

World Chess Championships: Game 8, Topalov wins

2010-05-04T20:14:00.002+03:00

Game 8 juat ended and anand resigns after a what seemed to be a drawn game. More comments and analysis HERE

World Chess Championships 2010: Anand-Topalov

2010-05-04T18:10:00.002+03:00

All the games played

[Event "WCh"][Site "Sofia BUL"][Date "2010.04.24"][Round "1"][White "Topalov,V"][Black "Anand,V"][Result "1-0"][WhiteElo "2805"][BlackElo "2787"][EventDate "2010.04.24"][ECO "D86"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c58. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 cxd4 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15. cxd4 exd4 16. Rac1 Qd6 17. f4 f6 18. f5 Qe5 19. Nf4 g5 20.Nh5+ Kg8 21. h4 h6 22. hxg5 hxg5 23. Rf3 Kf7 24. Nxf6 Kxf6 25. Rh3 Rg8 26.Rh6+ Kf7 27. Rh7+ Ke8 28. Rcc7 Kd8 29. Bb5 Qxe4 30. Rxc8+ 1-0

[Event "WCh"][Site "Sofia BUL"][Date "2010.04.25"][Round "2"][White "Anand,V"][Black "Topalov,V"][Result "1-0"][WhiteElo "2787"][BlackElo "2805"][EventDate "2010.04.24"][ECO "E04"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8.Naxc4 Bc5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bd2 Nd5 11. Rc1 Nd7 12. Nd3 Ba7 13. Ba5 Qe7 14.Qb3 Rb8 15. Qa3 Qxa3 16. bxa3 N7f6 17. Nce5 Re8 18. Rc2 b6 19. Bd2 Bb7 20.Rfc1 Rbd8 21. f4 Bb8 22. a4 a5 23. Nc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6 h5 25. R1c4 Ne3 26.Bxe3 dxe3 27. Bf3 g6 28. Rxb6 Ba7 29. Rb3 Rd4 30. Rc7 Bb8 31. Rc5 Bd6 32.Rxa5 Rc8 33. Kg2 Rc2 34. a3 Ra2 35. Nb4 Bxb4 36. axb4 Nd5 37. b5 Raxa4 38.Rxa4 Rxa4 39. Bxd5 exd5 40. b6 Ra8 41. b7 Rb8 42. Kf3 d4 43. Ke4 1-0

[Event "WCh"][Site "Sofia BUL"][Date "2010.04.27"][Round "3"][White "Topalov,V"][Black "Anand,V"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteElo "2805"][BlackElo "2787"][EventDate "2010.04.24"][ECO "D17"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4Bg6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Bxd4 Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxc4 a6 14.Rc1 Rg8 15. h4 h6 16. Ke2 Bd6 17. h5 Bh7 18. a5 Ke7 19. Na4 f6 20. b4 Rgc821. Bc5 Bxc5 22. bxc5 Rc7 23. Nb6 Rd8 24. Nxd7 Rdxd7 25. Bd3 Bg8 26. c6 Rd627. cxb7 Rxb7 28. Rc3 Bf7 29. Ke3 Be8 30. g4 e5 31. Rhc1 Bd7 32. Rc5 Bb533. Bxb5 axb5 34. Rb1 b4 35. Rb3 Ra6 36. Kd3 Rba7 37. Rxb4 Rxa5 38. Rxa5Rxa5 39. Rb7+ Kf8 40. Ke2 Ra2+ 41. Ke3 Ra3+ 42. Kf2 Ra2+ 43. Ke3 Ra3+ 44.Kf2 Ra2+ 45. Ke3 Ra3+ 46. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "WCh"][Site "Sofia BUL"][Date "2010.04.28"][Round "4"][White "Anand,V"][Black "Topalov,V"][Result "1-0"][WhiteElo "2787"][BlackElo "2805"][EventDate "2010.04.24"][ECO "E04"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. Qc2 Bxd2+8. Qxd2 c6 9. a4 b5 10. Na3 Bd7 11. Ne5 Nd5 12. e4 Nb4 13. O-O O-O 14. Rfd1Be8 15. d5 Qd6 16. Ng4 Qc5 17. Ne3 N8a6 18. dxc6 bxa4 19. Naxc4 Bxc6 20.Rac1 h6 21. Nd6 Qa7 22. Ng4 Rad8 23. Nxh6+ gxh6 24. Qxh6 f6 25. e5 Bxg2 26.exf6 Rxd6 27. Rxd6 Be4 28. Rxe6 Nd3 29. Rc2 Qh7 30. f7+ Qxf7 31. Rxe4 Qf532. Re7 1-0

[Event "WCh"][Site "Sofia BUL"][Date "2010.04.30"][Round "5"][White "Topalov,V"][Black "Anand,V"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteElo "2805"][BlackElo "2787"][EventDate "2010.04.24"][ECO "D17"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4Bg6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Bxd4 Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxc4 a6 14.Rc1 Rg8 15. h4 h5 16. Ne2 Bd6 17. Be3 Ne5 18. Nf4 Rc8 19. Bb3 Rxc1+ 20.Bxc1 Ke7 21. Ke2 Rc8 22. Bd2 f6 23. Nxg6+ Nxg6 24. g3 Ne5 25. f4 Nc6 26.Bc3 Bb4 27. Bxb4+ Nxb4 28. Rd1 Nc6 29. Rd2 g5 30. Kf2 g4 31. Rc2 Rd8 32.Ke3 Rd6 33. Rc5 Nb4 34. Rc7+ Kd8 35. Rc3 Ke7 36. e5 Rd7 37. exf6+ Kxf6 38.Ke2 Nc6 39. Ke1 Nd4 40. Bd1 a5 41. Rc5 Nf5 42. Rc3 Nd4 43. Rc5 Nf5 44. Rc31/2-1/2

[Event "WCh"][Site "Sofia BUL"][Date "2010.05.01"][Round "6"][White "Anand,V"][Black "Topalov,V"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteElo "2787"][BlackElo "2805"][EventDate "2010.04.24"][ECO "E04"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8.Naxc4 Bc5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Nd3 Ba7 13. Qa4 Nc6 14.Rac1 e5 15. Bxc6 b5 16. Qc2 Qxc6 17. Ncxe5 Qe4 18. Qc6 Bb7 19. Qxe4 Bxe420. Rc2 Rfe8 21. Rfc1 f6 22. Nd7 Bf5 23. N7c5 Bb6 24. Nb7 Bd7 25. Nf4 Rab826. Nd6 Re5 27. Nc8 Ba5 28. Nd3 Re8 29. Na7 Bb6 30. Nc6 Rb7 31. Ncb4 a5 32.Nd5 a4 33. Nxb6 Rxb6 34. Nc5 Bf5 35. Rd2 Rc6 36. b4 axb3 37. axb3 b4 38.Rxd4 Rxe2 39. Rxb4 Bh3 40. Rbc4 Rd6 41. Re4 Rb2 42. Ree1 Rdd2 43. Ne4 Rd444. Nc5 Rdd2 45. Ne4 Rd3 46. Rb1 Rdxb3 47. Nd2 Rb4 48. f3 g5 49. Rxb2 Rxb250. Rd1 Kf7 51. Kf2 h5 52. Ke3 Rc2 53. Ra1 Kg6 54. Ra6 Bf5 55. Rd6 Rc3+ 56.Kf2 Rc2 57. Ke3 Rc3+ 58. Kf2 Rc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "WCh"][Site "Sofia BUL"][Date "2010.05.03"][Round "7"][White "Anand,V"][Black "Topalov,V"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteElo "2787"][BlackElo "2805"][EventDate "2010.04.24"][ECO "E10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O c6 8.Bf4 dxc4 9. Ne5 b5 10. Nxc6 Nxc6 11. Bxc6 Bd7 12. Bxa8 Qxa8 13. f3 Nd5 14.Bd2 e5 15. e4 Bh3 16. exd5 Bxf1 17. Qxf1 exd4 18. a4 Qxd5 19. axb5 Qxb5 20.Rxa7 Re8 21. Kh1 Bf8 22. Rc7 d3 23. Bc3 Bd6 24. Ra7 h6 25. Nd2 Bb4 26. Ra1Bxc3 27. bxc3 Re2 28. Rd1 Qa4 29. Ne4 Qc2 30. Rc1 Rxh2+ 31. Kg1 Rg2+ 32.Qxg2 Qxc1+ 33. Qf1 Qe3+ 34. Qf2 Qc1+ 35. Qf1 Qe3+ 36. Kg2 f5 37. Nf2 Kh738. Qb1 Qe6 39. Qb5 g5 40. g4 fxg4 41. fxg4 Kg6 42. Qb7 d2 43. Qb1+ Kg7 44.Kf1 Qe7 45. Kg2 Qe6 46. Qd1 Qe3 47. Qf3 Qe6 48. Qb7+ Kg6 49. Qb1+ Kg7 50.Qd1 Qe3 51. Qc2 Qe2 52. Qa4 Kg8 53. Qd7 Kf8 54. Qd5 Kg7 55. Kg3 Qe3+ 56.Qf3 Qe5+ 57. Kg2 Qe6 58. Qd1 1/2-1/2

World Chess Championships 2010: Anand-Topalov

2010-05-04T18:05:00.002+03:00

Game 8 is curently underway and another d4. Follow the game with live commentary on

susan polgar's website.

Athur Ssegwanyi Wins Founders Memorial Tournament.

2010-05-03T21:51:00.002+03:00

Athur Ssegwanyi won the innagural founders memorial tournament held over the may day holiday. Athur a makerere university student dispatched a strong opposition including Harold wanyama and peter gilruth.Here is what Ben Magana called his drunken report after obviously taking one too many pilsners.The organizers were quite selfless in their duties.A big thx to the main sponsor Mehul aka Whiskerat aka Assassin aka HalfTail aka Gorilla for your generosity.Thx also to George, Purity, Babu & Githinji for the day-to-day running of things and handling logistics.
Arthur Ssegwanyi of UG won after dispatching Gilruth in the last round. Who is Arthur? A Makerere Uni student,maybe 21 yrs old. He stars 4 the Makerere team together with Patu Kawuma (remember him?). Pre-tona favourite Wanyama ran into the Kenya Roadblock Triumvirate of Gilruth, Kanegeni & Magnum (0, 0.5, 0.5) and hence got slowed down.
After 5 rounds, Gilruth was in the sole lead with 4.5 but somehow lost his final 2 games to me and Arthur.I mated my good pal Gilruth with 4sec left on my clock - I actually stole the game, confirming one of my worst fears, that I have kleptomaniac tendencies!Gilruth had also swindled an obviously-winning Wanyama. Mehul recovered well from his blitz debacle to play some decent chess on Sunday. However,the klepto in me saw to it that Mehul got pick-pocketed in our game, despite my dubious knight sac.
Steve Ouma was an early pace-setter after beating me and drawing Gilruth, but I guess the heights made him dizzy,& he crashed back to earth with a mighty THUD! Strong Ben was gutted after his loss to Obutu on Saturday,& this no doubt went a long way in explaining his no-show on Sunday.
The tomato-brained GiTinji had a remarkable charge of 4 straight victories in rounds 3-6,and narrowly missed out on the prizes after drawing in the last round.No doubt the highlight of his tourney was his stunning double-piece-sac victory over Mehul.This is the most brilliant, audacious and imperious local game I have seen in some years!! Orgasmic stuff,I tell you.Also worthy of the most brilliant game was Jonah Lang at s smooth victory over CK SecGen L Kagambi.

Wanyama Slaughters Mehul

2010-05-03T21:47:00.002+03:00

Harold wanyama(c) proved to be the king of East African blitz when he demolished Mehul gohil 7-0. The two played on the sidelines of the founders memorial tournament.

World Chess Championships

2010-05-03T19:49:00.002+03:00

Follow the championships on the official site HERE

World Chess Championships: Topalov - Anand

2010-04-26T23:12:00.002+03:00

The world chess championships between Anand and Topalov kicked off with a blistering start, Annand lost the game in about an hour; such a sorry state for a world championship.

Game 2 saw annand outplay topalov in a queenless middlegame. both games are reproduced below.

[Event "Sofia BUL, WCC2010"]
[Site "Sofia BUL"]
[Date "2010.04.24"]
[Round "1.22"]
[White "Topalov, V."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2010.04.24"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 cxd4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7
15. cxd4 exd4 16. Rac1 Qd6 17. f4 f6 18. f5 Qe5 19. Nf4 g5 20. Nh5+ Kg8 21. h4
h6 22. hxg5 hxg5 23. Rf3 Kf7 24. Nxf6 Kxf6 25. Rh3 Rg8 26. Rh6+ Kf7 27. Rh7+
Ke8 28. Rcc7 Kd8 29. Bb5 Qxe4 30. Rxc8+ 1-0

[Event "Sofia BUL, WCC2010 game_2"]
[Site "Sofia BUL"]
[Date "2010.04.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Topalov, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2010.04.24"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8.
Naxc4 Bc5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bd2 Nd5 11. Rc1 Nd7 12. Nd3 Ba7 13. Ba5 Qe7 14. Qb3
Rb8 15. Qa3 Qxa3 16. bxa3 N7f6 17. Nce5 Re8 18. Rc2 b6 19. Bd2 Bb7 20. Rfc1
Rbd8 21. f4 Bb8 22. a4 a5 23. Nc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6 h5 25. R1c4 Ne3 26. Bxe3 dxe3
27. Bf3 g6 28. Rxb6 Ba7 29. Rb3 Rd4 30. Rc7 Bb8 31. Rc5 Bd6 32. Rxa5 Rc8 33.
Kg2 Rc2 34. a3 Ra2 35. Nb4 Bxb4 36. axb4 Nd5 37. b5 Raxa4 38. Rxa4 Rxa4 39.
Bxd5 exd5 40. b6 Ra8 41. b7 Rb8 42. Kf3 d4 43. Ke4 1-0

Great Chess Shell

2010-04-12T13:50:00.002+03:00

download one of the best free chess shells on this link.

http://www.palyarena.com/

Kenya Loses to Dutch team In Internet Match

2009-10-06T21:40:00.003+03:00

By Mehul Gohil

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? - Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch painter and genius)

I thought I'd use Van Gogh qoutes rather than Ngugi Wa Thiongo ones since the Kenya Simbas lost by a nightmarish Fischeresque margin of 6-0. We were simply outplayed, outmanouvered, outthought, outprepared but maybe not outorganised! Some players thought that there was probably a game going on at a 'Board 7' between NCC organisers (led by Simba Kim) and Wagenignen ones (Led by Warrior Mr. Stap) and therefore Kenya got a consolation score of 6-1...sounds much better than 6-0!!

It's great we did attempt this thing despite the humiliating loss over the board. One thing for sure, the players learnt valuable lessons and it helped us understand where Kenyan chess stands, that the 'Top Dogs' are only strong relative to weak Kenyan standards. More events like this on at least a semi-regular basis and we are on our way to getting the master norms...more on the games below.

But I do not think I am exegerrating when I say this chess event was probably one of the finest ever staged in Kenya. The venue was set up beautifully. Big demo boards lined up in front , boards + laptops arranged on both sides of the room, seating arrangement for spectators, nice lunch, blazing Safaricom banners, air conditioned room, crash of media people...they were sticking those cameras into our faces when we had losing positions...political celebrities (commisioner of sports checked in...what he saw definitely impressed him), hotel patrons, a side rapid event thrown in, refreshments, good prizes etc. Everything you could wish for in a tournament, it was pure class. (There should be pictures getting posted on the forum) This must happen again!

Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together. -Vincent Van Gogh

Certainly, many small organisational components had come together to make this event a success. The standard pattern in Kenyan events is one club/federation/individual setting out to do everything themselves. This Safaricom sponsored thing was a break from tradition. Many different people and clubs put their hands together to make this thing happen and blossom in a spectucular manner. It goes to show it is possible to get big important things done without any help coming from CK (More on me taking potshots at CK in the 'Gossip & Rants' section below :P). It goes to show there is an alternative to the current chess mess we have in the country. It shows the rest of us can get the job done if CK can't.

In no particular order these are some of the people & clubs who made it happen (I might have left some out):

Philip Singe - Provided the demo boards which was critical to the ambience of the main venue. It clearly gave the event a professional touch. Singe also took some classy photographs which will be of great use pretty soon. Maybe he is the best chessplayer -photographer we have in the country?! lol!

Shiko - She was the brains behind the media operation. She's got the networking and she managed to pull in multiple media houses for this event. It's long since chess in Kenya got TV, Newspaper and Radio attention. Strangest thing...Shiko doesn't know how the pieces move!

Isaac Babu of KCB club - Great of him to take on the personal initiative of managing and arbitrating the Rapid event. Clearly, Kim was already stretched with the main event and Babu did a good job of helping out. By the way this maybe the only Kenyan event to feature two International Arbiters as TD's (other being Kim).

Surabaya & Auntie Cecilia - Where would the forum be without these two Kenyan chess legends? With their devastatingly colourful forum language they did a fantastic job of keeping everyone hooked to the KCF Soap Opera and ushered in the October 3rd event in dramatic style. No one can do it like them.

Checkmates Club, Mombasa Club and Kabete Cares - Goerge Mwangi co-organised the rapid with Babu. Johnah represented Mombasa club with his particpiation in that event and so did Moses of Kabete cares. We sometimes forget what an important component players and spectators are.

The weak players on the Kenya Simbas team - This includes me...though I had to 'sacrifice' my game to handle 'IT details' that cropped up (more below)...yes we were weak but we played for Kenya and represented Kenya to the best we could under the circumstances. Whatsmore without us there was no event!

Antony & Safaricom - Without them their wouldn't have been an event either! Thanks for the sponsorship guys. With what they gave us prizes were given as follows - 10k to each of the six main players (in addition to this Wageningen Chess Club sponsored Playchess accounts for each of them), 10k to the winner of the Rapid event, 1.5k to the subs (Johnny, Steve and Singe), and 5k each as a contribution to helping out other fellow clubs - Checkmates, Mombasa and Kabete Cares. Other details will appear when kim releases accounts at end month.

Dr. Nikolai Van Beek - After the event he became 'Nikolai Van Beer' as he hosted the Kenya team and some fans to some brown bottle action at Pizza Garden. This was the father of the whole idea. I don't how he managed to pull of things like Jan Timman, IM Afek and the other strong guys. What he did was amazing. Back in the Netherlands this event was big. Can you imagine a Kenyan chess event causing a stir nationwide in Holland? Kenyan chessers owe a big thank you to Dr. Nikolai.

Kim Bhari - Possibly the hardest working man in Kenyan chess. 80-90% of all the organisational responsibility lay on his shoulders. He defused a potential 'CK sabotage bomb' with his diplomacy (see gossip and rants below)...if it was me in his place I would have shoved armed bazookas up the a$$es of those CENSORED CENSORED. This guy worked the hardest out of anyone there, player or spectator or organiser. My hat's off to him.

Steve Ouma - He won the Rapid event. That must like the 100th rapid event in a row he has won. Congrats, next time he will have to be on the Kenya Simbas team to face dutch heat. But beside that I must appreciate Steve for his genuine compliments on how the event was organised. It wasn't like the fake unfelt speech his Sec Gen colleague delivered. He may have been the 'only olololo to have manhandled Mehul' as a famous forumater put it but I respect the guy as he had the balls to come up to me privately and say what was true. And he was honest about it.

Jacaranda Hotel Management - Wonderful hotel...an ideal location to express the romance of chess. Maybe we have discovered an ideal chess venue for important events. Ambience was smashing. But they are culprits as well. At the Safari Cafe, the guys gave us this stupendously sumptous buffet lunch...the effect was to fatten the Kenya Simbas for a dutch slaughter...at least now we have an excuse for poor performance!

Spectators on the ground, on the forum and on playchess - Chessdrummer, Niels, Ateka, Wanyama, Hesbon, Wachania and others....it was great to see support on playchess, the forum and main hall from friends. We could see you online. Sorry for letting you guys down! Next time we'll do better! It was kind of embarrasing to see Strong Wanyama looking into us with our weak positons...in a way you guys put us under a little more pressure! lol! Also guys like Johnny were prowling around putting our games under the microscope. Certainly a different feeling from a normal tournament. Our opponents were thousands of miles away but the tension was clear for all spectators to see.

Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again. -Vincent Van Gogh

The Kenya Simbas team was clearly no match for this ultra-strong dutch side. I think something may have been possible on Boards 3-6 but it just showed that more effort will be needed to brush up key elementary skills...precise calculation of short variations and basic strategy. Plus what we thought was the main Kenyan strength - tactics - proved to be illusory. We were treated to an exhibition of high quality tactical play and precision in calculation from the dutch side. Another thing, our openings needs major reworking and study. In my game I was playing the book lines but some slight deviation from my opponent left me flummoxed and I fell victim to a brilliant tactical shot Bc7!! Gosh...that came out of nowhere. Our opponents played very well indeed, even on the lower boards, and they deservedly won.

But this does not mean the end of the road. One thing all six of us distinctly felt once games were over was the feeling of revenge. We definitely want another shot. This is not the end for sure. It's amazing how playing against strong players you quickly realise what areas of your game need improvement. In a sense some of us felt given a second chance and good preparation we have a chance. I think 3-4 such events in a year will considerably improve 'top dog' playing standards and Kenyan chess in general. Having these sort of events organised at home would easily make us better prepared for international tornas. As per the Van Gogh quote above we can get up again and keep trying. Only way we will improve. It is now great that this critical absence of strong opposition for Kenyan chess is now being remedied thanks to the efforts of local clubs.

Now for a brief outline of what happened in each individual game...I guess some players will give their own takes on this. Plus Timman said he will annotate his game against Magana.

Magana - Timman - I thought Magana should have been a little more agressive coming out of the opening..he let the situation slide into positional/endgame realms and Timman's technique was just too good. Maybe Timman didn't even need to think at all on some moves and was playing simply on reflex because he had a big time advantage over Magana. But this is scary for us other Kenyans in local events...Magana will now be stronger in postional/endgame chess!! I will throw in an interesting thing in here because Magana told me it would not be appropriate for the chessbase/chessdrum artcles I will prepare, but since this is the allmighty forum here goes: A few days before the game with Timman, Magana asked Mr. Nigel Short on facebook what was his advise for tackling the might dutch legend. I will not quote the unbelievable reply from Short exactly but he said something to the effect that Magana should go in for wild tactical position because Timman's hallucinogenic (aka 'smoke') past have probably left him unable to calculate as well as he used to!!

Afek - Gilruth - This was the dutch showpiece. I think Afek played even better then Timman. Gilruth was completely torn apart after one small mistake. It was a massacre. Gilruth just did not see the ball. It's scary to see Kenya No.1 dismantled like this.

Nguku - Van Eijk - This game was Kenya's only hope. It was a massively complicated Sicilian Najdorf. Nguku was playing the game of his life...he is real good in these attacking positions...he missed the killer Rf6! but even then the fight was raging. Unfortunately he completely forgot about his clock and lost on time!! The final positon with unsual material balance on both sides is arguably drawable for Nguku. Analysis will show. This was clearly the best Kenyan effort.

Fred Jonker - Gohil - Unfortunately, I was unable to do justice to my game. I had prepared the opening well but 40 minutes into our match some boards started having technical problem with the internet connections. Apparently three laptops had the firewall on and this was making them log off Playchess. The arbiter in holland was gracious enough to restart the games, the players blitz to the current position and then continue. That was real cool of them. I thought a guy like Timman would get pissed off but he gingerly obliged. This incdent happened twice and eventually we managed to sort it all out but it completely messed my concentration in the game and by the time I got back to my board I was down to my last 15 minutes or so. I made mistakes like a premature b5 and Rd8 allowing Bc7!!. What I learnt was that you cannot mix organising and playing! Next time I will stick to only playing. But that said, my opponent was deadly precise in converting his advatage. His style is real neat.

Githinji - Ooerbeek - Like Magana, Githinji did not play according to his flamboyant style. He went in for an insipid exchange french. Things got boring. Githinji mistakenly thought he had a draw and in the end had no clue why he lost!! This was definitely a lesson for Githinji on the art of strategic chess. He did not guess the final black plan of swinging the king over to the q-side. At least the game had the positive effect of making him realise he has to change his attitude to how he looks at some positions.

Hotze-Akello - Akello did some strange things in the opening and white made the position explode with e6!! This was a wild game. Very strange things happened in it. I think Akello in the endgame that resulted may have had the better chances but lost the thread somewhere down the line.

GOSSIP & RANTS

This section deals mainly with a psuedo CK attempt to 'sabotage bomb' the event 48 hrs before it was to start. Now we all know that CK is generally unresponsive to mails sent to them. They never reply. So on Thursday afternoon one of the members of the NCC organising comitee (Kim) gets a call asking him 'for a meeting' on Friday 12 noon. At the meeting NCC is asked question like "How comes we were not invited and this is a big event?", "How was this Kenya team selected and on what basis", "Why is a government official invited to the event and we have not been?" "Why are you criticising us on the forum?" "Do you have plans to set up a parrallel chess organisation?" etc etc Basically some kind of interrogation headed by one Congambit. Probably wanting kick backs or afraid that NCC is somehow working in cahoots with some government officials to bring them down. Like we are interested. It is ok for them to never respond but anybody else must respond to them. Plus, how is it that a private event organised by a private club needs to have the approval of a national body before it as much as moves a piece? Furthermore, why contact Kim when Nikolai and Myself were the real creators of this event? Clearly, it's easier to deal with Kim then Mehul. Easier to bully? And why wait until the eleventh hour before CK reacts to all this? What were they doing a week before? Two weeks before? A month before?

Furthermore a whole bevy of CK officials turned up for this meeting...more than the number which came to see the event. Were they this scared of getting their thunder stolen? Who is stopping CK from organising their own big events? I just goes to show that if more CK officials turn up for a meeting that is basically an interogattion of a well meaning chess organiser than the number of who turned up to spectate the event....you then know where CK priorities lie.

It is also notable that the CK chairmam failed to turn up even as a spectator (he was invited for lunch with the team, sponsors other dignitaries) to one of the biggest chess events in Kenyan history. That is telling.

Kenya To Play Dutch Team In Internet Chess Match

2009-10-06T21:36:00.002+03:00

Kenya is set to play Wageningien Chess Club in the first ever internet match
Chess lovers in Kenya will on 3rd October 2009 be able to follow the first ever internet match on Kenyan soil.

6 top Kenyan players christened “Kenyan Simbas” will take on players from Wageningen Chess Club and who will have former World Champion contender Grandmaster Jan Tinman. Another key personality expected to play is Dutch Member of Parliament Eric Smaling who once lived in Kenya in the 1980s.

Event is being coordinated by Nairobi Chess Club

Kenyan Team To Play Dutch Team Named

2009-10-06T21:34:00.001+03:00

The event is a first for Kenya - A chess match between one of the famous Dutch chess clubs and a select Kenyan side consisting of the best six players in the country to be held over the internet. The aim of the event is to uplift Kenyan chess standards via exposure to strong opposition in the form of International Grandmasters and Masters.

The event sponsors are Safaricom and Wageningen Chess Club (of Netherlands). The Safaricom 3G mobile internet connection will be used and will highlight the capabilities of the newly landed fibre-optic cable that will enable fast relay of chess moves over the internet. The playing portal is the Playchess site which is managed by Chessbase, the world's premier chess software distributor.

The organiser for the event is Nairobi Chess Club which is the oldest registered chess institution in the country having been active since 1958.

The Kenyan team, known as the 'Kenyan Simbas', are represented by the the six best players in the country on current form. They are:

1. Ben Magana - The most dominant Kenyan player of the 21st century. He is currently ranked 2nd in the country. Has represented Kenya internationally in 3 Olympiads (World Team Championships), the 2007 All Africa Games where he narrowly missed on a bronze medal, and in the 2007 African Chess Championships where he created one of the biggest upsets in African chess by beating Grandmaster Ahmed Adly of Egypt who is also the reigning World Junior Champion.

2. Peter Gilruth - A naturalised Kenyan he is also the country's most experienced international player. He is currently ranked No. 1 in the country and is the reigning National Champion. He is also the captain of the Kenya Simbas team.

3. Ben Nguku - Is currently ranked No. 3 in the country. His high quality of play has attracted the analytical interest of some of the foremost chess specialists in the world. One of his games from the 2004 Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy was of such class that Grandmaster Nigel Short (who challaged Gary Kasparov for the World Championship in 1993) analysed it in depth for the Daily Telegraph's famous chess column.

4. Mehul Gohil - He is probably the strongest player to have never represented the country internationally. Locally, he has a reputation for being among the fastest thinkers of the game.

5. Githinji Hinga - He is the fastest rising talent inn Kenya at the moment. A welcome addition ot the Kenyan elite his electrifying style of play is eye-catching.

6. Akello Atwoli - Over the last 2 years Akello has established himself as one of the most succesful local tournament players. He has also improved very fast and was the best Kenyan performer at the All Africa Games of 2007.

The team Kenya Simbas will be facing are the Wageningen Chess Club who have on their team none other than Grandmaster Jan Timman and International Master Afek. Jan Timman is one of the acknowledged legends of the game. He has won the tough Dutch chess championships a record nine times. In 1979, a string of impressive international tournament victories propelled him to the World No.2 spot behind then World Champion Anatoly Karpov. Later on he even challenged for top honours against Karpov in their 1993 World Championship match. Jan Timman is also considered one of the best opening theoreticians of the chess world and has authored several classic chess books.

Wageningen chess club will constitute the strongest challenge Kenyan players have ever face

Dutch Club Wageningen Announces Team To Play Kenya

2009-10-06T21:30:00.001+03:00

Wageningen Chess Club have announced a strong line up against the Kenya Simbas in this historic event that is scheduled for 3rd October 2009.

The players are:

Board 1:

Grand Master Jan Timman - He is the former world number 2 and played a match with Anatoly Karpov for the FIDE World Title. Timman won the Dutch Championship nine times. He has for the past two years he played for Wageningen in the National League.

Board 2:

International Master Yochanan Afek – Mr Afek is from Israel and has lived in Holland for a number of years. Afek is a famous endgame composer. He trains a number of chess clubs in Holland and for Wageningen he is both trainer and player.

Board 3:

Chess Master Sander van Eijk - A young and attacking player. Last year he scored his first IM norm. After being a chess professional for one year, he now restarted his studies in Law.

Board 4:

Fred Jonker - A very tactical player. Six years ago he became regional champion and thus played in the semi-final of the Dutch Championships. Jonker works at Wageningen University.

Board 5:

Erwin Oorebeek - A player with a good knowledge of the opening. Oorebeek is a strong correspondence chess player.

Board 6:

To be announced later. There is a high possibility that this place will be taken by Eric Smaling who lived in Kenya in the 1990s and is now a member of Parliament.

The Kenya Simbas line is expected to be announced tomorrow

Safaricom are the main sponsors and are proud to be associated with this historic event that comes a few weeks after the landing of the fibre optic cable in Mombasa. The central technological platform of this event will be Safaricom's 3G mobile internet connection.

The interface is the popular site www.playchess.com which will enable chess enthusiasts to follow the game wherever they are in the world! It is also most likely that there will be a live commentary, which can be read online as the games are being played.

My First Tournament

2009-08-17T22:33:00.001+03:00

My first tournament

In January 2004, I played my first tournament. Today, I read my diary and it was de ja vu, back then Atwolli<> could not play in any event, I used to crash him like a cat. Here now is the non-edited version of the events at my first chess tournament.

2^nd veteran pharmaceutical open chess championships 22 to 23, 2004 Jan, Aga khan sports club.

I first heard about the veteran pharmaceutical open championships when I read the Monday standard on a report where Nigel short played blitz games against local players. The excitement of playing in full strong tournament was so high that I could not believe it. The idea of meeting Mathew kanegeni and the likes and giving them a run for their money was unbelievable.

My initial preparation was not that good; I downloaded a few games and planning material and made a 4-day crash course that I did not fulfill. When I left for Nairobi as Burnt Forest chess king on 21^st I was sure I was going to walk way with 6-0.

21^st.

I spent most of the day traveling and looking for the Aga khan sports centre. After getting lost, I finally found it and knew the registration was going to happen the next day. So after many years of playing chess I was about to play in my first ever tournament.

22^nd

I arrived at the Aga khan sports centre before 8, not knowing the chess Kenya protocol, I had had to wait for some minutes before the officials arrived. As guys started arriving, I caught my first glimpse on john Mukabi. The “guys” started playing blitz and analysis; the deep understanding they had of the game amazed me. As the draw was made, I was given a dream pairing just like Man u playing Exeter in the FA cup fourth round, it wad Mathew Kanegeni vs. Edwin Korir in Board.

EVENT: Veteran pharmaceutical open chess championships

SITE: Aga Khan Sports Centre

DATE: 22^nd to 23 Jan 2005

WHITE: Mathew Kanegeni

BLACK: Edwin Korir

OPENING: Siccilian Najdorf with f4.

e4 ( after months of preparing for the Sicilian , here was my chance to play my best aganaist the best) 1…c5
Nf3 d6
d4 cxd4
Nxd4 Nf6
Nc3 a6
Be2 ( the first variation and instead of replying to the moves he plays, my heart is beating, I am so excited and u have used less than a minute so far. May lack of tournament experience is surely showing) 6…e5
Nb3 Be7 (I always initially play Be6 before this move, whether it was fear or not I could not tell but it proved to be a novelty.)
0-0 0-0 run away from trouble if you can
f4? The move I have always detested, apart from Qc7 I don’t know how to handle it. It was going to be a long day. …Be6

starting off from here are the losing moves, apart from wasdting time this move does nothing at all. My plan was to accelerate thr f5 move so I could play Bd7 but that was not to be. The best plan here is 9…Bd7 10. a4 exf4 11. Bxf Ne5 getting an outpost which white will gladly exchange removing my isolsted pawn and leading to a pretty drawn position.

Be3 Qc7
a4 Bxb3? Bad move no doubt, it opens up the c file for white to usr.
cxb3 Nbd7
Rc1 Qa5
Qd1 Rac8 the losing move. Failure to analyse, plan and adrenalin combines to bring this disastrous ending.
Nd5 Qxd1
Nxe7 Kh8
Rxd1 Nxe5
Rc7 Nc5
fxe5 Nxb3
Bf3 Nbd2
Bxd2 Nxd2
exd5 h6
d7 Rd
Rc8 Nxf3
gxf3 Rxc8
dxc8 >Q Kg7

1-0

Michael Jackson: A Tribute

2009-07-17T14:00:00.004+03:00

By Edwin Korir

A genius? No doubt.

From a young boy born in Gary Indiana; singing Ben for his rat pet in 1972 to teaming with Quincy Jones to produce Thriller the best selling album of all time then trying to find his childhood in Neverland but eventually his facial surgeries, a skin ailment, serious weight loss, and god knows what else made him look like both a vampire and a mummy.

That was MJ, the musical genius who eventually turned to be a freak just like Bertrand Russell or Leo Tolstoy. I did not at first enjoy MJ’s songs but when I was in F1 back some time, I heard just bit it witch made me enjoy his songs. Eventually I started listening to his songs and billle jean and the way you make me feel made me feel like I was a teenager in the 80’s. His musical genius is unquestionable but like all other geniuses his social life was not exemplary.

Wacko Jacko as the British tabloids called him changed the music world, he transcended race before tiger woods, Oprahy Winfrey, and finally Barrack Obama. My friend Samuel Chebii must have been devastated for apart from his chess has lost his two favorite musicians in a year; Lucky Dube and now MJ.

For a while he was “king of pop” no two hours in classic 100 would go with out a MJ song playing. No soul night at the Simba Saloon in Carnivore would be complete with out one of his songs. Before MJ came James Brown and The Beatles after him, there is none. Changing from a handsome black man to an old white woman one has to ask which was more imaginative his music or his persona.

This young black kid who made his name with the Jackson Five eventually married Elvis Presley daughter and bought the Beatles song catalogue which meant every time one of their tunes was played he received half the royalty.

He made trademarks of the music industry; his dances especially his moonwalk, his jeweled glove and his record setting sales made him Mwenyewe. He acquired a 2,700acre ranch with funfair and zoo attached just like the Masai Mara, which he named Neverland after the fictional Nirvana of peter pan.

He sold more than 100 million albums in his solo career; Jua Cali has only sold 200,000. His tours were the biggest on the planet they averaged over 200 million per tour. However, whatever he did MJ just reenacted his dance as a central figure of long racial horror show. To the uplifting view, enunciated after his death by the likes of Rev. Al Sharptorn, he was a Tran racial icon, a black person whom whites took to their hearts and blackness came to seem incidental.

Then his darker phase began. Constantly he was confronted with charges of child molestation. He was energetic, charismatic, and supremely gifted, but sexually unassertive unlike swaggeringly black male performers from Joe to Jay Z. In 1993 MJ settled a child molestation charge for 22 million dollars and retreated to Neverland only venturing forth it seemed, for more cosmetic surgery or skin whitening treatments.

With the money he had made, he blew away more than 1 billion dollars in 20 years. Where the money went is not clear, though the 6 million dollars binge in a single store. Recorded by Martin Bashir in his 2003 documentary , suggested retail therapy on an imperial scale, even Moi wasn’t that extravagant.

This ultimately led to his financial problems, but MJ was in complete denial of the financial reality until he was shown an affidavit. In 2005, he decamped from Neverland and went to the Gulf of Aden at the invitation of the heir apparent. In 2007, the prince joined a long queue of litigants after MJ. The prince had proposed MJ to write an autobiography and compose a song for the hurricane Katrina victims to enhance MJ’s finances without him having to do anything much in public.

Everyone agrees that MJ was anything but a basket case by now. He then moved to Ireland where he prepared new tracks for the 25’Th anniversary of Thriller. He then relocated to Las Vegas where the only option of him solving his financial problems was a come back tour.

Randy Philips the CEO of AEG then set up the London tour, witch incidentally Mehul had tickets to. After what Randy called a “bony Hug” Jackson and his entourage which now consisted of one bodyguard had managed to hold on to Neverland and the Beatles song catalogue.

The come back was scheduled for London in the O2 arena where he was scheduled to perform in 50 shows. MJ’s health was now a concern his sin cancer and being pushed around in a wheel chair clutching a parasol like a mad geriatric.

MJ’s hope of a come back and that of 800’000 fans including Mehul, must have been that their thrust in pops most charismatic but accidental prone peter pan wouldn’t turn out to be a grand illusion after all.

Before that, MJ had remaked himself as American dream of innocence and belovednesss. His constant face surgeries and skin bleaches made him confusing. Just like the skeletal, pale faced zombies he danced with in thriller, when you watch it today, it appears to be a whole stage full of Michael Jackson’s, the real one now the least familiar looking, the most unreal. When he died, he was eulogized like an angel with Kobe Brayant, Al Sharptorn, Mariah Carey e.t.c.

But as an artist he was a genius, Jackson and his legendary producer Quincy Jones fused disco, soul, and pop in a manner that can be heard everyday in a station in Kenya or all across the globe. His best hits “billie jean” and “don’t stop ‘til you get enough” never sound outdated.

Then night before he died he was rehearsing for the O2 tour, people around him were wondering if he was really up to it. He was 50 years old and past his puer aeternus, he had health problems and his peak was 15 years ago.

Whatever his life felt like from the inside, it was manifestly the work of a genius, whether you want to call it a triumph or a freak show.

MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON

1958 to 2009

Random Thoughts

2009-06-04T17:27:00.000+03:00

1. In the recently concluded Kenya Open it was more like Nairobi open. Where are all those other players from ouside Nairobi??
2. Saif Kanini is the only player ever to win an Olympiad medal(silver) for kenya in 1980.
3. Where is Mathew Kanegeni?
Blessed june to you all

African chess

2009-06-03T17:14:00.001+03:00

Check out this upcoming website by Robert Gwaze http://www.chessafrica.com/

Kenya Open 2009

2009-06-02T13:59:00.000+03:00

After much haggling and uncertainity the kenya open was held over Madaraka day weekend.

Dolf Beltz won the event with 6.5/7, the new comer in the kenyan chess scene trounced veteran kenyan chess players.

Gilruth, Wangombe and john mukabi on 5.5 points. Ugandan was reresented by mulambe. Mehul withdrew after round 6 when a dispute with mulambe over the touch and move rule.

Chess kenya must be commended for organizing the event although they should not ambush people with unplanned events.

25 players were selected for next phase of olympiad qualifiers.

Nairobi Chess League

2009-05-15T10:32:00.000+03:00

Nairobi Chess League Rules(last modified 18th April 2009)

1 The Nairobi Chess League will be a team event with eight players per team. Matches will be played on four boards only. Matches will take place between January and May on a Saturday afternoon at a venue as notified to team captains. There will be two divisions, restricted to 11 teams per division. The event is open to all clubs.
2. Once a player has competed for a team in the League, that player cannot compete for another team in the same Division in the same season.
3. Board prizes will be awarded for the top players for boards 1 to 6 only. The minimum games played must be over 65% to qualify for board prizes. If 9 rounds are played then a minimum of 6 games must be played, if 10 rounds are played then 7 games
4. Prize for board 1 to 4 for ladies will be awarded based on the ratios mentioned in point 3 above. Prize for board 1 to 4 for junior player under the age of 18 will be awarded based on ratios mentioned in point 3 above.
5. A schedule will be sent to all competing teams on the Monday before the Saturday matches. The rate of play will be 45 minutes for all moves.
6.. Although the event is termed Nairobi Chess League, Rapidplay rules will apply. Except as modified by these rules, the normal FIDE Laws of chess will apply.
7. Scoring will be fully on game points. A won game will score one point, a drawn game half a point and a lost game zero points. Therefore, there are four points per team at stake on each afternoon of play. However if a team defaults for an afternoon their opponents will be awarded a 3 - 0 victory. This is to try and prevent default results having a distorting effect on the league placings. Any team defaulting on two or more afternoon matches may be expelled from the league and all their results annulled if they have played less than 50% of the games.
8. Any disputes will be settled by the organisers (or their representatives) whose decision is final. Teams are expected to compete in a spirit of fair play and cooperation. It is also hoped that the event will provide a more social opportunity than normally available through the Nairobi Chess League and that all involved will participate in making it an enjoyable event.

Sex Boycott

2009-05-01T10:27:00.002+03:00

Kenyan women have decided to boycott sex for one week to push for reforms in the country! more

Chess Social Responsibility(CSR)

2009-04-27T20:00:00.007+03:00

Recently the local chess community organized themselves to give back to society. The event dubbed the chess social responsibility or CSR. Purity Gachiga, Githinji Hinga and a few other chessers visited Kibera's LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL and made the children very happy. Here are a few photos of the event.

The deaf/dumb kids with their teacher(in red)

Gitinji giving the students their first chess lessons

Eldoret Chess Pictures

2009-04-27T19:45:00.005+03:00

Geoffrey 'Eku' Dokoria emailed me this pictures of Eldoret open some time back but i have failed to post them. Enjoy

Ben Nguku relaxes when not playing and probably no blitzers were around.

George Mwangi in his usual concentrative style slugs out aganaist Magana

One of the many players who turned up to play