This is the email that I got yesterday.
Dear Chessers,
The Chess Kenya Executive Committee decided on the following;
1)That the Olympiad first phase elimination tournament be held on the easter holiday
2)That the tournament will be FIDE rated and will be used as the National Chess Championship 2012.
3) Approved the Olympiad committee, constituting three Chess Kenya officials and two chess kenya members as follows;
Mary Kanyua- tournament coordinator and chess kenya official. Contacts 0723341866Fred Orawo- tournament co-coordinator and chess kenya official. Contacts 0722735097Fransic Ngesa- chess kenya vice chairmanBenson Gicharu- chess kenya member, alunmi daystar university chess captain, co-organiser 2009 Kenya Open.Wanjala- chess kenya member and alumni, Kenyatta university chess captain.
Attached are the tournament rules and regulations developed by the Olympiad Committee. Kindly sign and forward via soft or hard copy by the deadlines indicated in the entry form.
A map to the tournament venue will be sent later
kind regards,
Mary Kanyua,
Tournament Coordinator,
FIDE DI,
Chess Kenya, Committee Member,
2012 FIDE RATED NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
/ 1st PHASE OLYMPIAD ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT
CATEGORIES: OPEN AND LADIES
DATE: APRIL 6TH – 9TH
VENUE: SANDTON PALACE
ENTRY FORM
Entry Fees: CK members; Ksh 900. CK Non-members: Kshs 1600
PRIZES
Cash Prizes and trophies will be issued for the first three positions in both open and ladies
category.
RULES AND REGULATIONS:
1. The tournament will be run on Swiss system of pairing: 8 rounds: 2 rounds per day.
2. Play will start at 9.30 am on Friday 6thth. 90 minutes per player to finish, 0 minutes walkover.
3. Bucholz will be used to apply in all phases for qualifiers.
4. For the open category, the half of the players will take part in the 2nd phase elimination. Ten
players will proceed to the final phase elimination tournament. Wild card application will not
be allowed.
5. The ladies category, the Grand-pri system will be applied in all the elimination phases, thus
shortlisting to the next phase will not apply. The 5 players with the highest points
accumulated will make ladies team for Olympiad
Well well – You remember the fiasco for the 2011 Kenya National Championship. The event got postponed. The event is being held at Sandton Palace –
The hotel is in the middle of the city and is a nice hotel. Personally – I do not like it as I find it claustrophobic. You will be able to get parking on the Easter weekend but I do not like the location. Will I attend the event. Not so sure. I guess as one get older one becomes more fussy about venue, location etc. Talking about location reminds me of the past.
I still remember when the Bigwig of Kenya Chess Association was Clement Miheso we used to have a number of events at Aga Khan Academy, Limuru Road, Nairobi in the library. Yes in the library. It was amazing and so cool as one could read as well. Another interesting point was that in those days the organisers would provide lunch. Lunch did not consist of 3 course meal. It was a 2 course meal (Kenyan style).
You got half a loaf of bread and a soft drink. Can you imagine all that sugar in your blood after 20 minutes!! Well those were the good old days……..
I will keep you posted on what is happening for this event.