National chess championships to be held next weekend

By Berkley Fedha

Ronald Maina and Joy Kinyanjui are among 12 champions of the Mount Kenya region who have booked their tickets to play at the national chess championships next weekend when the national junior team will be selected to represent the country at upcoming international tournaments.

The 12 players won their respective categories at the 35th edition of the Mt Kenya junior Chess championships held on Saturday at the Bishop Ngandu high school in Karatina.

Maina defeated Raphael Kibicho and Joshua Irungu who also made the cut for the national trials, while Joy was too good in her category beating Eva Mithamo and Faith Kamau who were second and third respectively.

Bildad Njuguna and Cynthia Wahito were no match in the under 16 years category while Andrew Nderitu and Faith Wanjiku played their best Chess ever in their respective under 14 years categories.

Other winners of the championship included Stephen Wangondu, Sharon Njoki, Keith Mahinda and Mariane Gathiga.

The 35th edition attracted a record biggest number of players in any event in the country after a total 357 players registered for the one day tournament.

19 schools participated with only 4 primary schools registering.