Panchol wins Capablanca Cup
James Panchol was in sparkling form last weekend when he comfortably won the Open section of the 8th Capablanca Cup with a clean 5/5 points.
There was a 3 way tie for 2nd place with Niels Lauritsen of Denmark, Mike Akabo of Uganda and Mehul Gohil of Kenya each with 3.5 points. Niels Lauritsen was placed second on tie break.
James Panchol gets a lucky break in this game when Mehul Gohil seems to lose his confidence after building up a fantastic position.
James Panchol v Mehul Gohil

The Open section attracted a total of 18 players from 5 federations including Uganda, Somalia, South Sudan, Denmark and Kenya.
James Panchol v Peter Gilruth
U1800 Section
The U1800 section had 30 players.


Roberto Villuela, Willy Simons, Samuel Were, Collins Young, Hillary Sagwa and Morrel Omondi tied for 1st place with 4 points each in the U1800 section. Roberto Villuela and Willy Simons were placed 1st and 2nd respectively on tie break .

Dr Mujahid Din was the main sponsor (KES 20,000) of this event in honour of his late father Mohamed Younis Din who was a chess enthusiast in his days. See story on 7th Capablanca Cup sponsor’s story and other details.
Roberto Villuela who is the Nairobi Chess Club’s Treasurer was the secondary sponsor with KES 5,000.

Past winners
Past winners of this prestigious event have included;
1st winner was Humphrey Andolo – Kenya (1997)
2nd winner Jaswinder Singh – India (1999)
3rd winner IM Elijah Emojong – Uganda (2013)
4th winner Jackson Kamau – Kenya (2014)
5th winner Peter Gilruth – Kenya (2015)
6th winner CM Haruna Nsubuga – Uganda (2016)
7th winner Joseph Methu – Kenya (2017)


Results

