The 2016 Nairobi Open got off to a bumpy start today morning when approximately 130 players converged at the Makini School, Riara Road, Nairobi.
The hottest section is expected to be the Open where 77 players had registered with CM Ben Magana (2155) perched at the top of the pecking order.
Below him are 3 Ugandans Mathias Ssonko (2106), CM Nsubuga Haruna (2105), CM Bob Bibasa (2104) and Makwaya Kiddy (2092) from Zambia.
Other big names in the Open section include Mehul Gohil (2075), Githinji Hinga (2069) and James Panchol (2012).
Kenya’s hope lie with CM Ben Magana but it will be tough with the Ugandans. Will Kiddy Makwaya snatch victory for Zambia? I guess we will have to wait until Sunday evening.
The Ladies section attracted 19 players with Slovenian WFM Narcisa Mihevc-Mohr at the top of the starting list and rated 2066. Narcisa is the wife of International Grandmaster Georg Mohr who is currently in Nairobi for a FIDE Trainer’s seminar.
The question for the Ladies section is will WFM Ivy Amoko (1846) of Uganda be able to stop Narcisa from winner the top prize of KES 30,000 (USD 300)?.
The Junior section (U12) attracted a total of 19 players and the U18 had 12 players.
In another section of the school International Grandmaster Georg Mohr was taking about 20 participants through the FIDE Trainer’s course.
The last 3 rounds will be played on 8th May 2016 and we expect to bring you more photos from this highly anticipated tournament.