Chess whiz kid fourth in Africa

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

Dutch Club Wageningen Announces Team To Play Kenya

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.

African chess

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

EL GINDY EARNS FINAL GM NORM

Following on Amon Simutowe,s footsteps the number of African GMs is growing

GM AHMED ADLY IS WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPION

Egyptian GM Ahmed adly is the new world junior chess champion. Adly won the event after scoring 10/13 in the tournament held in Armenia.

Many Kenyan chess players are familiar with Adly having been defeated by Ben Magana in Namibia during the African individual chess championships.

Final Standings.
Ahmed 10
Popov 9.5
Hao, Andreikin 9.
Meier, Pashikian, Rodshtein, Negi, Jones 8.5

OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

NEWSWEEK ON AFRICAN CHESS

Everyone is talking about a renaissance in African chess. After Amon Simutowe earned his final GM norm Scott johnson was is Namibia for the African individual chess championships. And in his report appearing in Newsweek he talks passionately on African chess.
READ THE NEWSWEEK ARTICLE

Profile of Kenyan Team To All African Games

With the All African Games kicking off today here is a profile of our men in Algiers


The national team before leaving for algiers

BEN MAGANA


With a FIDE rating of 2151 and a local rating of 2308, ben magana is the strongest kenyan player currently. The reigning kenya national chess champion, magana has participated in many olympiads. He is the Kenya Open 2000 chess champion. This seemingly timid player has the precision and cold ruthlessness of a machine while on attacking mode. He has played in a number of countries namely Egypt, Turkey and Slovenia. In the chess Olympiad held in Istanbul Turkey he achieved an ELO Rating of 2200.All kenyan hopes will be resting on his shoulders. Although he will play very strong players in board 1 including GM and IM, there was a rumour that the kenyan team may play their strongest players(Magana and Nguku) in lower boards to increase medal prospects.

BEN NGUKU


Nguku and magana

His best moment was in the 2004 olympiad in spain where he managed the best score by any kenyan player in the tournament. A versatile and attacking player, Nguku has been kenya number one a number of times. "He has a sharp style despite his sometimes conservative choice of openings" is what nigel short had to say about him.

AKELLO ATWOLI
What can be more diffrent, his father is the most talkative man around while akello is so silent and shy. This being his first time representing kenya his perfomance will really be a gauge of things to come.

STEVE OUMA
The question in everbodys mind is, "are you fit to wear that kenyan shirt". Oumas inclusion in the team was so controversial it clouded other aspects of the team. In my own opinion ouma should not be anywhere near algiers. At the expense of Obut, ouma was chosen because he had "better medal prospects". If we are talking about medal prospects then why not choose Ateka or Kanegeni who are a million times stronger than ouma? I think his strength of play will be clearly exposed in algiers

CONTROVERSY IN KENYAN CHESS TEAM SELECTION

By paul maloba

Is there anything that can be done here??

Preamble

This decision was reached by the executive of Chess Kenya after Kenya sports
council only allotted 5 slots to chess instead of the earlier anticipated
number which was to include; men's team (6 – Ben Magana, Ben Nguku, Akello
Atwoli, Wycliffe Obutu, Steve Ouma and Martin Gateri), women's team, two
coaches (Atwoli Lukoye – Men and Isaac Babu- Women) and a team manager
(Lawrence Kagambi). The teams were selected after a round robin tournament
late last year

The cut number saw a reduced number of both officials and team to 5; Ben
Magana, Ben Nguku, Steve Ouma, Akello Atwoli and Lawrence Kagambi- official.

The criterion that was used to select the team of four was based on, in
order;

1. Order of qualification
2. Medal prospects
3. Attendance
4. Discipline and commitment to team

The final line up of the team was selected with Obutu and Gateri being left
out.

The Questions

I am basically questioning, limiting the comparison to Obutu and Ouma. I
have raised some of these questions with the team elect (including Steve
Ouma in a long phone conversation), Larry Kagambi (in along phone
conversation, unfortunately severally my efforts to meet him and further
discuss this bore no fruit – I'm to wait for two more weeks to meet him.
That is what lead me to do this mail), and several chess players.

1. Appropriateness of the criterion

A good friend of mine told me that *'we are unable to see the forest because
of the trees', *we lose focus of the big picture because of technicalities.
Processes are there to support the objective and should never supercede it.
Good performance and future of chess in my opinion should've been the
objective.

The four point criteria was quite innovative of Chess Kenya, when a decision
had to be made and I acknowledge that

a. Order of qualification

This being listed as the first criteria I presumed it carried more weight
(in my opinion, justifiably so). the order of qualification is as their name
appears in the first paragraph above

b. Medal prospects

Shock unto you, Steve scored highly than Obutu on this, because he has more
international exposure. Anyone who has been following recent tournament
results would bet that Obutu plays superior chess than Steve (It can be
proved further by playoffs) plus this is an upcoming player a learning curve
chances are that his tomorrow's chess will be better than his today's. How I
see it is that (for medal prospects) if your chess strengths are equal then
the alternative of 'international exposure' can be looked at. Debutants,
Nguku and Wachania registered impressive performances in their first outings
if this is anything to go by.

c. Attendance

This was attendance to training sessions, Here Steve scored the highest
13/13! and this must have greatly tilted the weight to his favor. Obutu had
8/13. Attendance was vital since KNSC (Kenya National Sports Council) could
do an impromptu visit to check on the player's seriousness in practice to
determine their chances of retaining their slot in teams to Algeria.

Unfortunately players used to show up to play blitz. The coach made a
program that was to start with a rapid round robin tournament, this
happened, but there after players used to just show up to sign in, its
apparent that at times Obutu could show up and end up reading his class
work, further more UoN students had exams and CATs coming up thus they had
limited time.

THERE WAS NO TRAINING TAKING PLACE. CK had frequent meetings with the player
emphasizing on the importance of attendance and warning/threatening that
this could jeopardize their future (in my opinion this is why CK wants to
show their iron fist, for being ignored after repeated warnings). Well it
almost appears that CK have a case here but look at it this way, CK take
time to hold meetings and discuss the importance of attendance but are not
taking steps to ensure activity during these sessions, infact the players
were complaining that its becoming more and more senseless. Considering the
neglect on CK to their duty, they should have exempted players from these
criteria. You do not warn against doing a wrong while your self you do
wrongs with impunity and expect utter obedience.

d. Discipline and commitment to team

Here Steve outdid Obutu, more or less due to the attendance, and perhaps
because of some antagonistic characteristics and utterances that the
upcoming players (Obutu and Atwoli) have been showing.

Well considering their level of maturity some of this is expected, the mode
of punishment has to be weighed. You don't use a shot gun on your
indisciplined son. More so the approach CK was taking in tackling issues
left a lot to be desired, even to the older players. Use of threats is not
so apt while leading/dealing people/team.

1. Discontent in chess fraternity.

Interestingly enough all the chess players I have talked to so far (with the
exception of Mr. Kagambi and Mr.Ouma) feel the same, this includes the
current elected team members! Who were also very bitter about this

*Why isn't any one saying anything?* Well, while replying to this mail, you
will be saying something (your honest opinion, you don't have to share my
sentiments).

For the future of chess most players saw it fit not to air our dirty linen
in public lest chess loses an opportunity of all African games
representation.

The elect team (excluding Steve) see the unity of the team as key to
performance (they are eyeing for medals) and wouldn't want to raise any
antagonism which could leave Steve feeling unwanted (I must apologize to the
team, for this mail goes against their wishes. But I feel that laying low on
this would be a bigger crime) this came out after I suggested to them that
if they strongly feel the decision was wrong as they are saying, why not act
and write a letter to Chess Kenya expressing the same? One of the players
told me that CK stated that if the men's team wasn't up to it, then they
could replace it with the women's team – perhaps CK can clarify this
(threats).

If Chess was to be a democracy, this decision would definitely be thrown out
the window, but with the status quo, unfortunate conclusions are being drawn
(some of which may be inaccurate) e.g. Chess Kenya is a one man show,
dictatorship, favoritism, personal interest, corrupt, sleeping… (I beg to
clarify that am neither insinuating nor accusing, much as this comments have
been mentioned in my presence, I don't intend to digress from the issues am
raising, like I said before I don't entirely agree with all of them) my
point is that ivory towers and iron fists explains why some members jump to
conclusion. While managing people, if some fundamental requirements aren't
met then such behaviour is inevitable.

*Points trying to explain this decision for instance include;*

• * 'perhaps you need to look at it from chess Kenya's side and
you'll see it makes sense'* as Steve mentioned to me: I have been trying a
lot to do this but from what I have gathered so far over the phone it still
doesn't add up, setting up a meeting wasn't fruitful either.

• '*The criteria'* as CK indicate in their letter to Obutu. In my
opinion this still favors Obutu over steve, otherwise perhaps they could
have agreed of the criteria with the team (since it was a novelty-
consultation seems apt) and ensure its just before executing it.

• '*Where is the justice in throwing out the man who has been there
for the team? – Steve had a 100% attendance*' as Steve mentioned to me. I
must confess that this is the point I started seeing it a bit differently
and noting that perhaps CK didn't just act for favoritism's sake, that maybe
they had an argument… but for the sake of seeing the '*forest*' this stint
dint last for long. Steve did great, unfortunately the slots for chess were
cut down to five, the proper criteria 'the forest' - Good performance and
future of chess, leaves him out. If the disciplinary case against Obutu
would have been major then e.g. fight (disrespectful heated argument) with
CK, absconding training/showups in total or misbehavior in camp then his
exclusion would have been warranted.

• '*Don't say I didn't warn you*…' this is (my opinion) what makes
sense to me, otherwise, favoritism. But like I said, the slap is not
warranted, the punishment does not commensurate the indiscipline, CK's
neglect in training schedule wasn't a morale booster as such.

• '*Obutu is young and still has future chances'* as Obutu's regret
letter after his appeal read, in fact it acknowledged the fact that he is an
upcoming player. This is absurd.

1. what the future holds

In a recent tournament 'Uganda Open' in Kampala, more than 60% of
participants were young upcoming competitors from primary, high school and
colleges, it was magnificent, on this, Kenya has a lot to work on to attain.

Again in a recent interuniversity sports tournament of East Africa in Uganda,
University of Nairobi (Ben Nguku, Obutu, Atwoli and George Mwangi) took the
title. This tells you that despite our poor development of young chess we
have a crop of young, strong chess players (it in fact they made 50% of the
Kenya team). My question to CK is, are we reading from the same scripts?
It's a rather an unfortunate reward for work well done.

1. Conflict of interest

It happens to be that Steve is a member of CK executive committee (but Larry
assured me that he didn't sit in the meeting that deliberated on this
decision), eye brows get raised when a contentious decision which raises so
many questions involves/favors one of the executive members.

Conclusion – walk the talk

CK has the authority to make decisions (whether good or bad) we mandated
them to do so, but when injustices of such magnitude happen (especially to
those who lack tact of stand for them selves), how do we address them?

CHESS JOKES

Chess is not a funny game. But this has not prevented some comedians from poking fun in this noble game.

A group of chess enthusiasts had checked into a hotel, and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.
"But why?" they asked, as they moved off.
"Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."


A chess master died - after a few days, a friend of his heard a voice; it was him!
"What's it like, where you are now," he asked.
"What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news."
"Tell me the good news first."
"Well, it's really heaven here. There are tournaments and blitz sessions going on all the time and Morphy, Alekhine, Lasker, Tal, Capablanca, Botvinnik, they're all here, and you can play them."
"Fantastic!" the friend said, "And what is the bad news?"
"You have Black against Capablanca on Saturday."


A Chess Player is walking from the lake carrying two fish in a bucket. He is approached by the Game Warden who asks him for his fishing license. The Chess player says to the warden, "I did not catch these fish; they are my pets's pawn. Everyday I come down to the water and whistle and these fish jump out and I take around to see the sights only to return them at the end of the day; remember that the Chess Board is like an ocean; full of fish". The warden, does not play chess, he not had any idea what he's taking about; not believing him, reminds him that it is illegal to fish without a license. The Chess Player turns to the warden and says,
"CHECK" "If you don't believe me then watch," as he throws the fish back into the water. The warden says, "Now whistle to your fish and show me that they will come out of the water." The Chess Player turns to the warden and says, "What fish!?"


In a park people come across a man playing chess against a dog. They are astonished and say:
"What a clever dog!"
But the man protests:
"No, no, he isn't that clever. I'm leading by three games to one!"


Frasier: I can see why she likes the game - "the king is stationary, the queen has all the power".


"So I was having dinner with Garry Kasporov - Problem was, we had a checkered tablecloth and it took him two hours to pass the salt!"


Q. Which chess piece is the most powerful?
A. The Knight, It goes over the top.


2 friends see themselves by the street and one of them says:
- My wife says that if tomorrow I go to the chess match, it will take my children and it will leave me.
The other friend asks to him:
- And what you will do?
And the other answers to him:
- E4, how always!


Q - Which group of women are the best chess players?
A - Feminists. Their opponents begin with King and Queen, but *they* always start with 2 Queens.


Three retired International chess grandmasters were playing chess in the park.
The first grandmaster said, "it is windy today."
The second grandmaster said, "no, it is Thursday today".
The third grandmaster said, "me too, let's go back inside for a drink"


The young apprentice went to his master and asked him:
"Which is the best game man made?".
The old master though a little bit and said
"It's chess I guess, no?".
"What about go?" came the next question instantly.
"Aah, go was already here!"


A gentleman must play a game of chess with a blind person, he proposes to the blind person:
"As him cannot see he will grant an advantage to him as part of the deal. We will not play in equality of conditions."
"This sound really fair" replied the Blind Person.
Then he asks the gentleman: "When?"
"Very well", the other men responded to him "any night that you prefer."