IM Elijah Emojong of Uganda won he 2nd edition of the KAM Pharmacy Chess Tournament which was held on 19th February 2017 at the KAM Place, Westlands, Nairobi.
The 5 round 25 minutes plus 10s per player event had a bumpy start when the event was delayed due to logistical issues caused by a shortage of tables and chairs.
In the past one could easily estimate the number of players and a safe number was usually between 60 to 80 players. The main decision that you had to make was whether to have a junior section or not.
This event threw the rule book out of the window when slightly over 150 players registered!
Coupled with the fact that Kenyans love to register at the last minute meant that Paras Gudka was now now facing a pressing issue! How to ensure that all the tables, chairs and related equipment was in place before the event started. In fact St Peter’s Juja School had registered 67 children for the event.
In the future oganisers will have to either limit the number of players due to logistical reasons or have events based on ratings, gender or age to control the numbers. The days of the truly open chess tournaments in Kenya are almost dead. The risk of planning for 150 players and having 300 register is a complete organisational nightmare.
I guess suppliers of chess equipment for hire will now have to scale up their operations to deal with regular requests from chess organisers for +150 sets and clocks.
Can you imagine the next event where two or three schools decide to register? It is very possible that the next open event in Nairobi will easily attract over 200 players.
Chess organisers of Kenya – you have been warned!
A total cash prize fund of KES 28,500 was awarded to prize winner together with over 25 trophies/medals. A more comprehensive report of this event can be found on IM Elijah Emojong wins 2017 KAM Rapid Chess Championship.
