This week saw well known Kenyan chess player WFM Riya Shah take a big step when she launched her newly published 90 page chess book.

16 year old WFM Riya Shah who is a student of Aga Khan Academy presented copies the book and chess sets to a number of schools within Nairobi last week.

WFM Riya Shah is one of Kenya’s most prolific players and has won the Kenya National Ladies title in 2013 and 2015.

Schools visited included Kabiro Primary School in Kawangware and Adventure School in Kibira all within Nairobi.
WFM Riya Shah’s other major achievements include being in the Ladies Team for the 2014 and 2016 Chess Olympiad. She also won a much deserved bronze medal in the 2012 African Youth Chess Championship held in South Africa.
One WFM Riya Shah’s greatest achievements was when she won the bronze medal at the 4.2 Zonals held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in April 2016 where she won the WFM title. You can see the story on this event here Zonal 4.2.
WFM Riya Shah has represented Kenya in numerous events around the world including Turkey, Vietnam, Norway, South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.
We at Kenya Chess Masala are very excited to see a chess book done by a Kenyan for Kenyan children. We do hope to see new spurts of growth in chess within our school communities.