Uganda impresses at 46th World Chess Olympiad in Uzbekistan

Uganda has delivered a stellar performance, climbing to top places at the 46th World Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, which ended on Monday.

Uganda was represented by a full team of five men and five women for the event, which lasted two weeks as players competed in 11 rounds of the Swiss format.

In the men's team, FM Harold Wanyama was Uganda's top performer, winning seven of the 10 games he played. CM Emmanuel Egesa followed with six wins from 10 games.

They were followed by FC Bob Bibasa, FM Patrick Kawuma, and Mark Wasswa, who scored 3.5, 3.0, and 2.5 points, respectively.

In the women's team, continental junior champion WIM Sana Omprakash produced a strong performance, winning and drawing one of the 11 games she played.

Fellow junior and Olympiad debutant Juliet Asaba won five of the 10 games she played, while WCM Patricia Kawuma recorded four wins from nine games.

Another junior and debutant, Juliet Asiimwe, scored 3.5 points from seven games, while WCM Shakira Ampaire earned 2.5 points from seven games.

Earlier, Uganda's para-chess team also made its mark on its first appearance at the Olympiad, improving from 40th to 38th position.

After the two-week event, Uganda's men's team moved up eight places from 106th to 91st, while the women's team improved from 87th to 79th among the 150 countries that competed at the world's top level of chess.

"I am happy that on the continent, Uganda is now ranked sixth in the men's category and fourth in the women's category, which is no small feat. The future is bright as Uganda is improving steadily, and our focus is on youth initiatives," Bakiza said upon returning from Uzbekistan.

He attributed the progress to initiatives introduced by the new federation, which has been in administration for only eight months. During this period, Uganda has competed in six international events, including the Olympiad, where three teams represented the country.

"In Uzbekistan, we had the persons with disabilities, men's and women's teams," he said.

The Ugandan teams are expected to return home this Wednesday, according to Bakiza.

Overall, in the men's competition, host Uzbekistan took gold with 20 points, followed by India with silver and Germany with bronze after both clinched 18 points.

In the women's competition, China took gold, followed by Kazakhstan with silver and India third.

Chess team to the Uzbekistan Olympiad

Men:

FM Harold Wanyama

FM Patrick Kawuma

FM Bob Bibasa

CM Emmanuel Egesa

Wasswa Mark Nyola

Women:

WIM Sana Omprakash

WCM Shakira Ampaire

WCM Patricia Kawuma

WCM Juliet Asaba

Olivia Asiimwe

Non-playing captain: Mathias Ssonko