Kenya National Championship 2018
Details of the long awaited Kenya National Championship were released some 3 weeks ago. It is beyond doubt that this event will certainly be billed as the ‘mother of all Kenyan tournaments’.
Boasting a prize fun of KES 400,000 (USD 4,000) this event will stand above all Kenyan and regional tournaments. The winner goes home with a cool KES 100,000 (USD 1,000).
The hot favourites are defending champion CM Ben Magana in the Men’s section & WFM Joyce Nyaruai in the Ladies section. Other top players in the event will include Githinji Hinga, Akello Atwoli and Mehul Gohil.
The event will furthermore also act as the first stage of the selection process for the 2019 All Africa Games which are scheduled to be held in Morocco.
The top junior players will represent Kenya in the Africa Junior Chess Championship in Kampala, Uganda in December 2018. See story 2018 AJCC.
The story on the 2017 edition can be found here – 2017 Kenya National Chess Championship.
Past Winners
Below is a comprehensive list of past winners of this prestigious event. The list has been prepared by John Mukabi.
| YEAR | WINNERS | |
| MEN | WOMEN | |
| 1990 | Lawrence Wanjohi Kagambi | Anastasiah Mailu |
| 1991 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 1992 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 1993 | Humphrey Andolo | ? |
| 1994 | Lothar Nicolaiczuk (GER) | ? |
| 1995 | Humphrey Andolo | ? |
| 1996 | Philip Nicholas Odhiambo | ? |
| 1997 | Humphrey Andolo | ? |
| 1998 | Humphrey Andolo | ? |
| 1999 | Humphrey Andolo | ? |
| 2000 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 2001 | Kenneth Ajode Omolo | ? |
| 2002 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 2003 | Matthew Kamau Kanegeni | ? |
| 2004 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 2005 | Nathan Mukaka Ateka | Devisalini Sivaraj |
| 2006 | Benjamin Omondi Magana now CM | Jane Wambugu now WCM |
| 2007 | Peter Gilruth | Janet Rosana |
| 2008 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 2009 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 2010 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 2011 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 2012 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 2013 | CM Benjamin Omondi Magana | WFM Riya Shah |
| 2014 | Mehul Gohil | WFM Sanjana Deshpande |
| 2015 | Kenneth Ajode Omolo | WFM Riya Shah |
| 2016 | NO EVENT | NO EVENT |
| 2017 | CM Benjamin Omondi Magana | WFM Joyce Nyaruai Ndirangu |
Other details for the event
Date : 12-16 December 2018
Venue : Parklands Sports Club, Nairobi
Format : 9 Rounds Swiss System
Time Control : 90mins +30sec increment from move one
Eligibility : Kenyan Citizens who are Chess Kenya Members
Registration : CK Membership KES1,200
Entry fees : Open KES 1,500 & Ladies /Juniors KES 1,000
Payments: Mpesa to Rodah Olisa 0725680043
Prizes KES
Open Section
1. 100,000
2. 50,000
3. 25,000
4. 20,000
5. 15,000
6. 12,000
7. 10,000
8. 5,000
9. 5,000
10. 5,000
Total KES 247,000
Ladies Section
1. 50,000
2. 25,000
3. 15,000
4. 10,000
5. 7,000
6. 6,000
7. 5,000
8. 5,000
9. 5,000
10. 5,000
Total KES 133,000
Top Junior Boy KES 5,000
Top Junior Girl KES 5000
Best Under 1600 KES 5000
Best Under 1400 KES 5000
Total prize fund KES 400,000
Team selection for All Africa Games (AAG) and African Junior Chess Championship (AJCC)
The Top Juniors (Boy & Girl) U20 (born on or after 1st January 1998) will represent Kenya at the upcoming African Junior Chess Championship (AJCC). This even is scheduled to be held in Entebbe, Uganda from 28th December to 6th January 2019.
This National Championship will further more also act as the First Phase for All Africa Games (AAG) 2019 to be held in Morocco in October 2019.
The National Champion, The Top Two Active Citizens on FIDE Rating List FRL (December 2018) who have played at least three rated tournaments in 2018 and the Top Junior Under 20 on National Championship Final Ranking will be seeded directly into the Final Phase. The 4 players mentioned above will be called Group A.
The Second phase will have the top 20 players on merit (excluding Group A players mentioned above). The top 7 players from this phase will move into the Final stage. These 7 players will constitute Group B.
The Final stage will have 11 players (4 from Group A and 7 from Group B). These 11 players will play a Single Round Robin to select the five player team for AAG 2019. The same selection process will be used for the Ladies team as well.
