Ugandan Nyolla Wasswa from Equity Chess Club is the winner of the Eldoret Open Chess Championship.Wasswa who was the tournament’s highest-rated player at 2082 took home Ksh30,000. In second place was former Kenyan National Champion Joseph Methu who pocketed Ksh15,000.Kenya’s number one player Hawi Kaloki, Adol Chol, Yaak Garang, Atem Gak Ngong, Brian Gabriel and Ben Magana all tied in third place and shared Ksh2160.4th seed Ben Magana suffers massive upset in Eldoret Open Chess ChampionshipsThe ladies’ section also witnessed fierce competition with Elizabeth Cassidy and Zuri Kaloki sharing the top spot and each walking away with Ksh8,000.Shannon Bulimo and WCM Jully Mutisya shared third place each receiving Ksh2,000.The tournament also recognized exceptional local talent, with Rotich Natasha emerging as the top Eldoret Lady and taking home Ksh3,000 while Yaak Garang Kamic was crowned the top Eldoret male player also earning Ksh3,000.##NAJAVA_MECA_8658089##In a celebration of academic excellence, Egerton University was honoured as the Best Performing University receiving a specially branded trophy for their efforts.In the corporate category, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) took home the Best Corporate Team Award.Earlier on the second day of the tournament an upset was produced after Candidate Master (CM) Ian Mutuge lost to Givens Amunga.Odhiambo, Karano crowned as NCBA golf series tees offGoing into the tournament Strathmore University’s Mutuge was the sixth-ranked player with a rating of 1959.Mutuge has been on an upward trajectory in the last year and he represented the country at last year’s World Chess Olympiad in Hungary for the first time ever. It was in Hungary that he earned his CM title.But Amunga had no respect for his opponents’ credentials as he outplayed Mutuge.##NAJAVA_MECA_8658068##Faced with losing either his knight or queen, Mutuge threw in the towel.Kenya’s top seed Hawi Kaloki completely obliterated veteran Philip Singe in just 14 moves to pick his first win on the board.Kaloki had earned a walk-over in round one after his opponent failed to show up, while the fiery match between Toboso Bryan and Methu Joseph drew 45 live spectators.KBF on the spot after referee headbutts coach, both parties reconcileToboso’s daring Dutch Defense stunned the audience but backfired after Methu’s relentless attacks left the former scrambling before resigning.
