FM Haruna Nsubuga grabs World Cup slot
FM Haruna Nsubuga will represent Uganda in the forthcoming 2023 World Cup, which runs from 29th July to 26th August Astana, Kazakhstan.
He emerged victorious with 6.5 points from a five-player double round-robin event featuring the 2022 Uganda Olympiad Team participants. The event took place at Gloria Gardens Namugongo, Kampala and ran over three weekends from 4th to 19th February 2023.
FM Harold Wanyama was second with six points, while FM Patrick Kawuma was third with three points. CM Emmanuel Egesa was fourth with 2.5 points, while FM Walter Okas was last with two points.
Uganda got a chance to send a player to the 2023 World Cup by being one of the top 100 national federations at the 2022 Chess Olympiad and who were each allocated one qualification spot (referred to as Olympiad spot).
Uganda was ranked 82nd, while Kenya missed a chance as she was 130th. Other African nations that won an Olympiad slot for the 2023 World Cup include Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Madagascar, Libya, South Sudan, Nigeria and Botswana.
This year’s edition will see Uganda feature for the third time, with IM Arthur Ssegwangyi representing his county in the 2015 and 2021 editions.
It will be FM Haurna Nsubuga’s first time to play in a World Cup.
Chess facts about Uganda
The Uganda Chess Federation was set in 1972 and joined FIDE in 1978.
Eng Emmanuel Mwaka is the current President of the federation.
Uganda has two International Chess Masters – IM Arthur Ssegwanyi (2395) and IM Elijah Emojong (2283).
IM Arthur Ssegwanyi is Uganda’s highest-rated player at 2375. He shot to fame when he held GM Anish Giri to a 158 move draw during the 2015 World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan. IM Ssegwanyi was back in the news when in 2017, he defeated GM Gupta Abhijeet at the Henry Chilufya Memorial Tournament held in Zambia.
FM Harold Wanyama is Uganda’s second highest-rated player at 2303.
FM Harold Wanyama won a bronze medal at the 2019 All Africa Games held in Rabat, Morocco. He was also the winner of the 2018 Kenya Open (Prestige Section).
Uganda has 314 players registered with FIDE.
Uganda has participated in every chess Olympiad from 1980 to 2022 (17 consecutive editions).
Geoffrey Makumbi aged 17 won a gold medal at the 1996 Chess Olympiad held in Yerevan, Armenia. He scored 7.5 points out of 8 games.
The Queen of Katwe is a world-renown chess movie set in Uganda.
Links
2023 Uganda World Cup Qualifiers on chess-results.com
Selected pgn’s from the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers.
Regulations for the 2023 World Cup.
IM Arthur Ssegwanyi to represent Uganda at the 2021 World Cup.
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Article by Kenya Chess Masala.
