Kenyan chess will this weekend most certainly take another gigantic step forward.
African Chess Confederation awarded Kenya the rights to host the African Youth Chess Championship.
Chess Kenya then took the courageous decision to host the event in Kisumu instead of the capital city of Nairobi. This was in line with their vision to spread the game to other parts of the country.
The 10th edition of the Africa Youth Chess Championship runs from 12th to 18th August at the Grand Royal Swiss Hotel, Kisumu.
A total of 13 countries will be participating. These include Algeria, Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, , South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Cameroon, Somalia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Kenya has the biggest squad of 58 players. South Africa has 23 players, Algeria 17 and Namibia 15. Uganda and Zimbabwe will have 14 players each.
The event will be run in 12 categories. These includes U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, U18 both boys and girls. The event is a nine round Swiss event with time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds.
The event opening ceremony is set for 12th August at 9am with the first round taking place at 4:30PM.
IM Kandil Adham of Egypt is the highest rated player in the event at 2290. Peter Gilruth who is Kenya’s highest ranked player in comparison has a rating of 2205.
Timothy Mwabu is Kenya’s top ranked player at 1630 who will be in action in the Boys U16. He will have to overcome Lamine Brahami of Algeria who is rated 1940.
The pairings and standings on this event can be found on 2018 AYCC.
