A recap of the 2015 Rwanda Chess Championship
Rwanda National Chess Championships
The Rwanda National Chess Championships 2015 was held at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) in Kigali. The event attracted 14 players in the Open Section and 12 players in the Ladies Section. The Open Section ran from Thursday 10th to 13th December 2015 with the Swiss system of pairings in 9 rounds with time controls of 75mins +30 seconds increment from move one. Ladies Section was a 7 round, 60 minutes time control.
After a grueling and well fought event, the Open section saw FERWADE Executive Secretary Niyibizi Alain Patience lifting the winner’s trophy with 7.5/9 points and earn himself the title of Rwanda National Champion 2015/2016. He also qualifies directly to the last phase of the Olympiad selection team event next year in May.
Last year’s defending champion CM Rizugura Alexis finished second with 7/9 points. Kagabo Mugema Eugene and Ndagiza Asad tied for joint third with 6/9 points. The winner also took home RWF 50,000 (approximately USD 70) while second and third place got RWF 30,000 and RWF 20,000 respectively.
Ladies section
Shimwa Faustine defended her title to be crowned winner with a perfect score of 7/7 points. Odile Kalisa was second with 5/7 points while third place was Uwase Sandrine with 4.5/7 points.
Kasparov Chess Foundation
Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa has done a lot to promote chess in Rwanda. In February this year the foundation sponsored the KCB Bank v Rwanda event which enabled 6 players from Rwanda to obtain their FIDE rating.