Kenyans register positive results in ongoing World Cadets Chess Championships
Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 19.11.24. | 13:23
First African under-12 champion Jaydon Simiyu bounced back from his round three loss to edge out Pennechia Isio Domenico from Italy
After a slow start, Kenyan players picked positive results on the fourth day of the ongoing World Cadets Chess Championships in Montesilvano Italy.
First African under-12 champion Jaydon Simiyu bounced back from his round three loss to edge out Pennechia Isio Domenico from Italy.
It was an easy game for the Kenyan who is rated 1784 with the Italian stuck at 1510.
As if picking the cue from Simiyu, Kelly Sosi from St. Mary’s School drew with Stefanov Stefan from Bulgaria.
Then Aiden Wainaina beat fellow Kenyan Jibril Gichugu before Luke Nganga won against Harold Kagwe, another Kenyan.
But Fidel Kingsley Kabuga was not lucky as he lost to Jayden Chenxuen from Canada.
In the girls under-12 category, Jasmine Kingaya lost to Murandova Tehat from Armenia.
Giovanni Farina was not paired in the boys under-10 category picking his first point in the tournament.
On a positive note, the Italian Embassy finally issued visas to 17 players it had denied.
The players are scheduled to join the rest on Wednesday and take part in the remaining rounds of the tournament.
The 17 were denied visas for various reasons and appealed to the Ministry of Sports and Foreign Affairs forcing the Italian embassy to budge and allow them to travel.
Chess Kenya president Bernard Wanjala thanked the government for intervening and ensuring that those who were left out managed to travel.
“It would have been devastating to leave out anyone, especially if they had qualified. We risked losing them and we are grateful that the government stepped in to ensure no one was disadvantaged,” he said.
Elsewhere, the two Kenyan players taking part in the Africa Junior Chess Championships in Egypt lost their games on Monday.
Bradley Muthimba went down to Egyptian Alhassadi Yousef while Christian Mugambi also lost to another Egyptian Ahmed Moustafa Fares.
Both players have so far picked one point each and will be looking forward to finishing strongly in the one-week event bringing together the top players from Africa under the age of 20
