GORILLA FARTS #1: The Mujengere’s Guide to Team Kenya at the Budapest Olympiad
Report by – Mehul Gohil aka ‘Gorilla’
The most important event of the year is now here. The Olympiad. A player has not really played chess until he has gone to the Olympiad as a player. It is the experience of a lifetime.
In this fart, we take a look at the players in Team Kenya, Open Section.
BOARDS 1 & 2 – The Anaconda Boards
Board 1: Martin Njoroge
Board 2: Mathew Kanegeni
The most difficult boards to play on. The difference between these two boards and the remaining is almost an extra 200 Elo opponent playing strength pressure faced. As expected, coach Magana has put two of the more experienced Olympians on this boards.
Martin Njoroge
STRENGTHS: Strong fighting spirit. Very confident playing attitude when on form. Good feel for dynamic play – good ability to spot play for the initiative when it looks inobvious. An example:
Black: Njoroge (to play)
White: Grineva
World Team Rapid Championship
Here, it outwardly appears White is in control of the situation. He has more space and his pawn structure seems to be chocking Black. With a few active moves Njoroge proves it is actually Black in control: 14…Ba4 15.Qd2 Rg8 16.g3 Rc8 17. Nd4 Bg7 18.f4 b6 19. cxb axb 20. Kf2 Ke7!
Black: Njoroge
White: Grineva (to play)
Position after 20…Ke7!
Notice after just 5 moves all Black pieces are activated and are pressing on White’s position from all sides.
WEAKNESSES: Nervous collapse when he gets excited at the board due to building tension, especially when final result is not clear. Shallow opening repertoire. Tendency to miscalculate King and Pawn endgames (e.g vs McLigeyo at Kenya National Championship and against me in the 2022 final phase). Despite good dynamic instincts, lacks discipline and vigilance to spot sudden cheapo tactics by the opponent. An example:
Black: Njoroge
White: Gohil (to play)
Kenya National Championship 2022
Njoroge has just moved his queen to e6, ‘attacking’ a2 and seemingly grabbing the initiative. But he fails to see the coming simple tactic: 17. d5! (Black loses a piece as 17…Qxd5 loses the Queen to the discovered attack Nf6+ and Bxh7+).
Matthew Kanegeni
STRENGTHS: Experienced. Psychologically strong when he has a clear advantage in a position of technical nature. Wide opening repertoire and knowledge of various positions. Good feel for positional play. Good at manouvering. Good at the endgame. Especially adept at handling the coordination of Queen + Knight.
Black: Seegolam
White: Kanegeni (to play)
Istanbul Olympiad, 2012.
Here Kanegeni exploits the superior harmony of his pieces and the lethargy of Black’s in instructive fashion. 15. Nh2! (understanding the Knight on e5 is more a liability for Black than a strength) Bb7 16.f4 Ned7 17. Bc2 h6 18.Ng4 Bg7 19. Nf2! (overprotecting e4, keeping white’s better position super stable at the same time keeping enough tension to torment black) Re7 20.a4! Qe8 21.axb axb 22. Rxa8 Bxa8 23. b4! (fixing the black weaknesses). Kanegeni’s opponent soon cracked and lost.
WEAKNESSES: Gets disoriented in irrational positions that don’t have clear positional guidelines. Worst calculator on the team. His lacks discipline in establishing his candidate moves.
Robert McLigeyo
STRENGTHS: Stamina. McLigeyo continues to play strongly throughout the game. Whether move 12 or move 60. It is difficult for an opponent to keep up with him as he presses even late into the game. Along with Ian Mutuge is the player with the best calculation skills on the team. Despite his youth, he is a patient and calm player. Very good defensive player. Takes his time evaluating a position and methodically calculates when the need arises. He is especially good at calculating long lines where he sees an evaluation at the end which comes as a surprise to the opponent. An example:
Black: Peglau
White: McLigeyo (to Play)
World Team Rapid Championship
Here, McLigeyo plays with deep understanding. 20.g4! (a fine pawn sacrifice. The g6 Bishop, f8 Biship and h8 Rook are all out of play. McLigeyo invites Black to exchange of his active f5 Knight, leaving just the c8 Rook to hold things together) Nxd4 21.Nxd4 Rc4 22.Be3 Rxa4 23. Rfc1 (the point of the positional operation.
White infiltrates via the c-file) Rc4 24.b3! Rxc1 25.Rxc1 Kd7 26.b4 Be7 27.Nb5 a6 28.Rc7! Kd8 29.Ra7! and wins. A fine piece of play by McLigeyo. Good vision of how the infiltration of the c-file would be decisive.
WEAKNESSES: McLigeyo sometimes tends to show some complacency due to over-confidence and loses vigilance. Especially if a dynamic motif is masked. He sometimes tends to think in a one track way without paying due attention to the opponent’s dynamic resources. An example:
Black: McLigeyo (to play)
White: Gohil
NCC Championships 2023
Here McLigeyo grabbed the d pawn. He underestimated the dynamic potential of White’s position: 14…Nxd4?! 15.Qh4! Nf5 16.Bxf5 exf 17.Nec4! (suddenly the b2 Bishop is awake and it transpires black is going to have to give back the pawn and wreck his structure. This came as a nasty surprise to McLigeyo) dxc 18.Nxc4 Qd8 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Qxf6 gxf 21.Nxd6 McLigeyo eventually succumbed due to the many weaknesses.
Elvis Likoko
STRENGTHS: Attacking flair. Dangerous when he has the initiative and a clear attacking plan. Resourceful at drumming up tactical complications. Underestimated endgame skills.
Black: Likoko (to play)
White: Njoroge
Kenya National Championship 2023
White appears to be cruising here. Black’s pieces seem to lack harmony. However, Likoko shows dynamically that Black is OK. 23…Bxc3 24.Qxc3 Rxf2 24.Nc8 Qf6! (defusing any remaining White pressure) 25.Qxf6 Rxf6 26.Rd8+ Kf7 27.Nb6 Rf1+ 28.Kc2 Kg6! 29.Rh2 g3! 30.Rg2 Rf2 31.Rdd2 Ra6 32.c5 Ra7 and Black is fully active and well coordinated.
WEAKNESSES: Poor opening repertoire. Lacks stamina. The longer the game goes on, the weaker he becomes. Impatience. Moves too fast in critical positions at times. Over-reliance on attacking instinct at times.
Ian Mutuge
STRENGTHS: Good calculation technique. Maybe the best calculator on the team. Good at sniffing out the initiative. Give him a small chance to get active and he will be all over you. Good tactical vision. Deadly when on the attack. Unstoppable.
Black: Mutuge
White: Gohil (to play)
Final Phase National Team Qualifier
This is an example of accuracy in calculation as shown by Mutuge. White here played 14.e5? not taking into account all the factors. Mutuge duly cashed in. Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.f4? (the move White relied on) dxc! 17.Bxc3 Qc5+ and Black wins a piece.
WEAKNESSES: Opening repertoire not yet well worked out. An element of shallowness to it. Especially when opponent steers the opening to systems that require less book knowledge and more understanding of resulting position. Cockiness when getting a won position. Losing accuracy and vigilance as a result.
About Mehul Gohil
Mehul Gohil is the a three times Kenya National Chess Champion (2014, 2019 & 2022. He has won several major events in the country including the 66th Nairobi Chess Club Championship.
Links
Mehul Gohil clinches the 66th Nairobi Chess Club Championship title.
The 2024 Olympiad Phase 2 Qualifiers.
The 2024 Kenya Chess Olympiad Qualifiers.
Chess Shop
Article by Kenya Chess Masala.
