Uganda grabs silver medal at World Junior Championship for Disabled
Uganda made Africa proud with a second-place standing in the 3rd edition of the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship for the Disabled.
Russia won gold with 11.5 points compared to Uganda’s 8 points.
The USA won bronze with 7 points.
The event has sixteen (16) players from eight countries taking part. Russia, Germany, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, India, Ecuador, Uganda and host the USA.
Two players represented each team. Wasswa Sharif Mbaziira and John Denis Mwesigye were members of the Ugandan side.
The championship took place in Cherry Hill, New Jersey in the USA. The event ran from 10th to 15th July 2019 and had a total of 7 rounds.
Uganda won a bronze medal at the 2nd edition of the event which was held in 2017 in Florida in the USA.
Kenya National Paralympic Committee
Kenya has never participated in this particular event. However, the 2020 edition will likely feature a team from Kenya. Chess Kenya and the Kenya National Paralympic Committee have introduced chess to a small number of members. It is interesting to note that the ‘Kenya Para Team‘ has since May 2019 been training every Tuesday at Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi.
Clement Miheso at the 2015 World Chess Championship for Disabled.
Clement Miheso represented Kenya in the 2015 World Chess Championship for Disabled in Germany. He is affectionately known as ‘Champ‘ and is a former Chairman of Kenya Chess Association.
Sponsors
The U.S. Chess Trust were the sponsors of the event. Support also came in from New Jersey Chess Federation and KIND.
Final Standing
| Country | Name | Total |
|---|---|---|
| RUSSIA | LIPILIN Ilia | 6.5 |
| INDIA | RAO Samarth Jagadish | 5.5 |
| RUSSIA | PETROV Maksim | 5.0 |
| USA | SHANKAR Pranav | 4.0 |
| GERMANY | SCHEFFNER Jarno | 4.0 |
| ECUADOR | NEVAREZ CASTRO Andres Fernando | 4.0 |
| RUSSIA | GORSHKOVA Sofia | 4.0 |
| UGANDA | MBAZIIRA Wasswa Sharif | 4.0 |
| UGANDA | MWESIGYE John Denis | 4.0 |
| RUSSIA | KRASIVSKAIA Viktoriia | 3.0 |
| USA | TRAN Nguyen | 3.0 |
| USA | MUELLER Payton | 3.0 |
| KYRGYZSTAN | KUDAINAZAROVA Dariia | 2.5 |
| GEORGIA | TALIKADZE Leri | 2.5 |
| USA | MILLER Anna | 1.0 |
| USA | PILKINGTON Jacob | 0.0 |
Links
Official Website of FIDE World Junior Chess Championship for the Disabled.
Kenya National Paralympic Committee.
Clement Miheso at 2015 World Disabled Chess Championship.
