Chess Success

This week we were incredibly proud to see three members of the BNIS Chess Club - Wolf (Y3), Tito and Harris (Y5s) enter the Kenya National Youth Chess Championship at Kisii School in Western Kenya. The tournament attracted 3128 participants from across the country, comprising 1988 boys and 1140 girls, making it the largest ever single chess gathering in Kenya and Africa!

The Championship was played over three intense days with a total of eight rounds (games), using the swiss-pairing style of play; where no individual is eliminated, instead, a point bases system is used to calculate for a win (1), a tie (0.5) or a loss (0). The atmosphere was alive and busy, with dedicated and passionate young children ensuring that they got to their games on time, anxious parents peeking through windows, mandazi stands buzzing with business and energetic football matches with and against opponents on the muddy playing fields. Lead by Coach Joseph (from Ascending Pawn Chess), the team were incredibly supportive of each other, taking time between rounds to work through each other’s games and make recommendations on strengthening their play.

Congratulations to Wolf (U8) who won 4 out of his 8 matches ranking 91 out of 191 in his category, Tito (U10) who won 6.5 out of his 8 games ranking 14 out of 339 in his category and Harris (U12) who won 4 out of his 8 matches ranking 184 out of 383. We are so proud of them and can not wait to see how they will continue to grow their amazing Chess skills - the hippo that crossed the road at Nyahururu on their way home can only be seen as an omen of good things to come1