The local chess federation is set to revive the long forgotten annual national championship competition. Chess enthusiasts will next week start tousling it out to determine this year’s national champion.
According to the Rwanda Chess Federation, the preliminary knock out phase will be played by unrated players [those who have never played in the Chess Olympiad, a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete] starting the week-end of November 29.
“From this phase we will select 10 players who will join the rated players in the final phase,” Kevin Ganza, the Vice-President of the Rwanda Chess Federation said.
The winners from this phase will qualify to compete in the finals which start on December 26. Registration for the knock out phase is underway and ends November 25, four days before the games begin.
The chess federation has not held such events in 10 years.
Ganza said: “The objective is to find out who is playing a better game than others this year, and encourage players to keep improving their game.”
Winners of previous open competitions have been reported as national champions but, according to Ganza, that is not the proper way of doing things because the competitions were not organised the way a national championship should be.
By James Karuhanga, The New Times