By Lubulwa Edrine
The Rwabushenyi Memorial Chess Tournament officially kick off yesterday Thursday, 5th December 2024 at Nob View Hotel in Ntinda with three categories on the card.
Several local and regional Chess players from Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania are expected to grace this Championship, the biggest and most prestigious chess tournament on the Ugandan chess calendar.
The tournament which also doubles as a qualifier for the 2025 international events as it is the 2nd Grand Prix in the Uganda Chess Federation’s Calendar will feature players in the Open, Women’s and the Junior categories.
The Junior category will be played as a single section, but players will be grouped according to age groups U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, U18 and awards given according to Junior Open and Juniors Girls.
Juicy cash prizes are on stake for the top performers in open category with the winner walking away with 1.5m UGX while the best in the Women’s will get 1,000,000 UGX and several trophies for the FIDE rated section (open catergory).
With a cash prize of 10m Uganda shillings up for distribution, players who finish between 1st and 8th in both the Open and Women’s categories will be awarded cash prizes.
There will also be special cash prizes awarded. The Best Junior in both the Open and Girl’s section will get 100,000/- so will the Best Senior aged 50+ and the Best differently abled player.
Uganda Chess Federation President, Emmanuel Mwaka confirmed to Rora Media Sports on the eve of the opening day about the readiness of the organizing team, arbiters and the players. “We are only waiting for the games to start”.
“The highly billed regional event is the biggest on the Uganda Chess Federation calendar and it is expected to feature top players from Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania among other countries in the region,” says Mwaka.
Over 100 players are expected to participate in the FIDE rated 8 round event that will feature 2 games per day based on the Swiss system. The event features two categories; an elite closed FIDE rated section comprising of rated players and only a few select top unrated, and an Open lower category featuring the bulk of unrated players.
The annual tournament comes at a time when chess players who missed last year’s event due to administrative problems, are more than eager to compete and win respective prizes.
Last year’s edition in the Ladies’, it was Kenyan Woman Candidate Master, Joyce Nyaruai Ndirangu who scooped the first prize while the overall winner in the Juniors section was taken by Mark Ocaya.
