2018 KCB Kenya Open – Day 1
The 2018 KCB Kenya Open Chess Championship got off to an exciting start yesterday morning. The venue was the serene KCB Leadership Centre in Karen, Nairobi.
The most noteworthy result was when Austin Walela held FM Harold Wanyama of Uganda to a draw.
FM Harold Wanyama v Austin Walela
Top seed IM Arthur Ssegwanyi of Uganda dismissed James Panchol of South Sudan in a 22 move game in round 2.
James Panchol v IM Arthur Ssegwanyi
Mehul Gohil tried his best to overcome FM Patrick Kawuma in an exciting round 2 encounter. This is what Mehul had to say after he lost.
“Balanced position after opening. We jockeyed in the middlegame. I offered Kawuma a draw. He rejected. Then he lost thread of game. I got slight advantage. He played a positional error giving me clear advantage. He offered a draw. I rejected. I got a great position. I saw something crazy. I went for brilliancy. For like 10 moves it was the craziest endgame ever. I perhaps missed the right way to pick. I went down in flames. That’s life.”
FM Patrick Kawuma v Mehul Gohil
IM Adu Oladapo of Nigeria failed to turn up which was a big disappointment for the organisers.
IM Elijah Emojong v Jackson Kamau
The Prestige section and Challengers section have a total of 28 players and 96 players respectively. The Ladies section has 30 players. The Junior section has a total of 71 players in the U1, 0 and U16 section.
A total of 8 top players from Uganda are taking part in this event.
Links
2018 KCB Kenya Open on chess-results.com.
2018 KCB Kenya Open Day 3 report.
FM Harold Wanyama wins the 2018 KCB Kenya Open.