Two weeks after the initial idea of the tournament was floated to the chess community, the ‘Fouress Technologies Junior Rapid Chess Championship’ went off without a hitch on Saturday, 28th May 2016 at the Oshwal Sports Complex, Nairobi.
Round 1 of the U14, U16 and U18 sections begins / Photo by Sruthi Vasanth
Organised by Motochess Ventures and sponsored by Fouress Technologies Ltd, Sangyug Enterprises Ltd, Nakumatt Holdings Ltd, Kenafric Industries Ltd, Oshwal Sports Complex and Motochess Ventures, the tournament attracted a total of 100 players for the 1-day event.
The rapid format tournament saw the 100 players distributed over a total of six sections (Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18) and was played over 5 rounds with a time control of 25 minutes per player per game.
The U12 section saw the most players (29), followed by the U14 section (22), the U8 section (19), the U10 section (16), the U16 section (8) and finally the U18 section (6).
The highest rated players were found in the U18 section, led by John Milton Kihara Mwangi (1732) of Anchor Chess Club and Subham Shailesh Rai (1446) of Premier Academy.
Pairings for all sections except for the U18 were done using the Swiss system while the U18 was played as a 5-round Round-Robin tournament due to the low number of participants.
A total of 24 institutions were represented of which Oshwal Academy Primary (16), Elimu House Schools (12), All Saints Cathedral School (11), Sports Outreach Institute (8), Tritonite Stars (8) and Shepherds Junior School (6) had the most players.
The organisation and arbitration teams consisted of FA Paras Gudka (Chief Organiser and Arbiter), Daphne Mwikali (assistant organiser), Savan Haria (U18 and U16 section arbiter), David Macharia Waweru (U14 section arbiter), WFM Sanjana Deshpande (U12 section arbiter), James Madol Panchol (U12 section arbiter), Georgina Kamene (U10 section arbiter) and Maureen Njeri (U8 section arbiter).
The U14, U16 and U18 section games were played in the Bridge room while U8, U10 and U12 section games were played in the Darts room. Round 1 for the former began at 8.30 am and for the latter it was 9.10 am.
Snacks sponsored by Nakumatt were distributed to all players / Photo by Sruthi Vasanth
Before and after the third round, snacks sponsored by Nakumatt and sweets sponsored by Kenafric Industries were distributed to the players who relished the opportunity to top up their energy reserves for the remaining rounds.
All games of the final round (R5) were completed by 1.20 pm, ahead of schedule and the closing ceremony was completed at 2.15 pm. Prize winners in all six sections received unique chess-themed medals sponsored by Sangyug Enterprises and gift vouchers worth KES 300 sponsored by Motochess Ventures.
Final prize winners were as follows:
Under 8 Section
- First Place (Boys): Yash Ritesh Shah (Oshwal Academy Primary) – 5 points
- Second Place (Boys): Hetansh Keyur Shah (Oshwal Academy Primary) – 4 pts
- Third Place (Boys): Ganeev Gahir Singh (Oshwal Academy Primary) – 3.5 pts
- First Place (Girls): Joy Njeri (Elimu House Schools) – 4 pts
- Second Place (Girls): Janvi Nipul Shah (Oshwal Academy Primary) – 3 pts
- Third Place (Girls): Janki Nipul Shah (Oshwal Academy Primary) – 3 pts
Yash Ritesh Shah (Under 8) receiving his prize from chess coach Latha Sathya and arbiter WFM Sanjana Deshpande / Photo by Sruthi Vasanth
Under 10 Section
- First Place (Boys): Sanjay Ramesh (Tritonite Stars) – 4 pts
- Second Place (Boys): Mark Alando Menje (Beacon of Hope Academy) – 4 pts
- Third Place (Boys): Reeyan Gosrani (Tritonite Stars) – 4 pts
- First Place (Girls): Khushi Bhavesh Malde (Oshwal Academy Primary) – 3 pts
- Second Place (Girls): Devashri Sanjay Shah (Tritonite Stars) – 3 pts
- Third Place (Girls): Kylin Wangeci Kahoro (Winka Academy – South C) – 2 pts
Sanjay Ramesh (Under 10) receiving his prize from arbiter Georgina Kamene / Photo by Sruthi Vasanth
Under 12 Section
- First Place (Boys): Sunil Subramaniam (Nairobi Gymkhana Chess Club) – 5 pts
- Second Place (Boys): Samesh Arul (Tritonite Stars) – 4 pts
- Third Place (Boys): Keith Ngung’u (Elimu House Schools) – 4 pts
- First Place (Girls): Vivian Muthoni (Elimu House Schools) – 4 pts
- Second Place (Girls): Mercy Ingado (Elimu House Schools) – 3 pts
- Third Place (Girls): Naiya Gosrani (Tritonite Stars) – 3 pts
Sunil Subramaniam (Under 12) receiving his prize from chess parent Rodah Olisa / Photo by Paras Gudka
Under 14 Section
- First Place: Yuvika Arul (Tritonite Stars) – 5 pts
- Second Place: Telvin Nyaga (Elimu House Schools) – 4 pts
- Third Place: Clinton Musalia (Elimu House Schools) – 4 pts
Yuvika Arul (Under 14) receiving her prize from chess parent Bhavesh Malde / Photo by Sruthi Vasanth
Under 16 Section
- First Place: Reanna Paaras Varsani (Tritonite Stars) – 4 pts
- Second Place: Arnold Klein Mudidi (Elimu House Schools) – 3.5 pts
- Third Place: John Njoroge Mburu (Elimu House Schools) – 3.5 pts
Under 18 Section
- First Place: John Milton Kihara Mwangi (Anchor Chess Club) – 4 pts
- Second Place: Subham Shailesh Rai (Premier Academy) – 3.5 pts
- Third Place: G. Sathya Iyer (Nairobi Gymkhana Chess Club) – 3 pts
Milton Kihara (Under 18) receiving his prize from Fouress Technologies representative Sanjana Deshpande / Photo by Sruthi Vasanth
Related links:
- More photos (Facebook)
- U8 section pairings and results (chess-results)
- U10 section pairings and results (chess-results)
- U12 section pairings and results (chess-results)
- U14 section pairings and results (chess-results)
- U16 section pairings and results (chess-results)
- U18 section pairings and results (chess-results)
