James Panchol of Sudan Sudan emerged victorious with his usual swashbuckling style during the 2016 Rift Valley Open Chess Championship which came to an end at the Shik Park Hotel in Nakuru last weekend.
James Panchol scored 5/5 together with Mathias Ssonko of Uganda and Martin Njoroge but was declared the winner due to his higher tie-break. All three players equally shared the total cash prize of KES 35,000 (USD 350).
A total of 30 players took part in this event which was sponsored by chess aficionado Dr Kevin Bichanga of Nakuru.
We are fortunate to have at least one game from the event which shows upcoming youngster Martin Njoroge defeating FM Steve Ouma.
We hope that this event will spark a revival of chess events in Nakuru which used to boast of some very strong players in the past.
