Bernice Wambui Gikandi in historic win

April 8, 2022

853

Bernice Wambui Gikandi in historic win

Bernice Wambui Gikandi of Lighthouse Chess Club made Kenyan chess history last weekend when she won the Open U12 section at the 2022 Kenya National Youth Youth & Cadets Chess Championship.

Khadija Secondary School in Mombasa was the venue of the event, with just over 1,430 players from 170 schools selecting the national team players for each age group.

Bernice Wambui Gikandi receives a chess clock as a gift from Githinji Hinga of MininChess Kenya. — Bernice Wambui Gikandi receives a chess clock as a gift from Githinji Hinga of MiniChess Kenya.

The Open U12 Section had 232 players, with Bernice Wambui Gikandi being the only girl!

She obtained a perfect score of 8 points from 8 rounds.

Matthew Kanegeni, a renowned chess coach, who has worked with Bernice Wambui annotates one of her games from the event.

Hekima Kipkoech v Bernice Wambui

[Event "Kenya National Youth Chess Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.04.05"] [Round "6"] [White "Hekima Kipkoech, Elimu House School"] [Black "Bernice Wambui, Lighthouse Chess Club"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B32"] [BlackElo "1146"] [Annotator "Matthew Kanegeni"] [PlyCount "90"] [SourceVersionDate"2022.04.07"] {This is the first time in Kenya’s history that a girl has won the Open Category during a national youth championship tournament.} 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 {(In this position White usually plays 4.Nxd4, and Black follows with a plethora of plans, such as Taimanov Sicilian, Classical Sicilian, Sveshnikov Sicilian, and Accelerated Dragon. The actual move played in the game is a rare gambit. Maybe White wanted to lure his opponent into playing 4…e7-e5 to defend the “extra pawn”, after which White gains a strong initiative with 5.Nf3-g5.)} e6 {(This is the most practical and solid way for Black to continue, preparing to develop her kingside bishop, while at the same time blocking the a2-g8 diagonal against the white bishop on c4.)} 5. O-O Qc7 6. Nbd2 Nf6 7. Re1 Bb4 8. b3 {(This move weakens the dark squares on the queenside. The strongest continuation is 8.e5 Ng4 9.Qe2.)} Bc3 9. Rb1 O-O 10. Bb2 a6 {(Better is 10…Bxb2 so as to leave the d4 pawn strong in the center.)} 11. Bxc3 dxc3 12. Nf1 b5 13. Bd3 Bb7 14. Ng3 Ne7 15. e5 {(Finally, White takes advantage of Black’s delay in playing …d7-d6, and gains a space advantage in the center.)} Nfd5 16. Re4 {(White had a winning Greek Gift Sacrifice with 16. Bxh7+! Kxh7 17.Ng5+ Kg8 18.Qh5 Rfb8 19.Qxf7+ Kh8 20.Re4 +-. If Black declines the sacrifice with 16…Kh8 then White can simply retreat the bishop to a central square and proceed to attack the weakened black kingside.)} Nb6 { (There is no need for this maneuver, as the black knight is already strong on d5. Black should just improve her position with 16…Ng6.)} 17. Rh4 Ng6 18. Rg4 Nd5 19. Qe1 Nde7 {(Once again, the strong knight should be left on d5 and Black to improve her position with 19…d6.)} 20. Qe2 Rfd8 21. Be4 Bxe4 22. Rxe4 Nd5 23. Rg4 d6 24. Re1 dxe5 25. Nxe5 Ndf4 26. Qe3 {(White is now threatening to play Rg4xf4 to win two pieces for a rook.)} Nd5 27. Qe2 Qb7 28. Qf3 {(A good move, pinning the Nd5 and defending against the threat of … Nd5-f4.)} Qc7 29. Qe4 {(This is a decisive mistake, allowing the black knight to fork White’s queen and rook. A better plan was to retreat the white knight on e5 to d3, followed by the pawn thrust h2-h4-h5 attacking the black knight on g6.)} Nf6 30. Qc6 Qxc6 31. Nxc6 Rd6 {(White must now lose a piece, as there is no good way to defend both the rook and the knight.)} 32. Rd4 Rxc6 33. Red1 Rcc8 {(Very solid and careful play by Black, not allowing the White rooks any chance of penetrating into the eighth rank.)} 34. R1d3 h6 35. Ne2 Nd5 36. g3 { (Another decisive mistake, allowing Black to increase her material advantage. A better move was 36.Kf1)} Ne5 37. Rxc3 {(Also 37.Rd1 still will lose to 37… Nf3+.)} Nxc3 38. Nxc3 Nf3+ {(Black now gains a decisive material advantage.)} 39. Kf1 Nxd4 40. a4 {(At this point, maybe White had already been completely overwhelmed by the strength of Black’s play, and forgot to defend the white knight with 40.Ne4 or 40.Nd1.)} Rxc3 41. Ke1 Rxc2 42. Kd1 Rxf2 43. h4 Rc8 44. axb5 Rcc2 45. bxa6 Rh2 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Bernice Gikandi Wambui is 11 years old and a student of St Peters School in Juja located in the outskirts of Nairobi. She has also represented Kenya at the 2021 African Youth Chess Championship in Accra, Ghana.