Wanyama, Haruna on top at Rwabushenyi chess meet

Dec 10, 2015

Harold Wanyama and Haruna Nsubuga are unbeaten after four rounds and enjoying a joint lead in the Open category of the Rwabushenyi Memorial Chess Championship.

Harold Wanyama and Haruna Nsubuga are unbeaten after four rounds and enjoying a joint lead in the Open category of the Rwabushenyi Memorial Chess Championship. 

The first four rounds were played on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December 2015 while the last four are due to be played on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December 2015.

The fifth round promises to be more thrilling as Nsubuga and Wanyama lock horns while the chess sensation, Arthur Ssegwanyi takes on Grace Nsubuga and former Mwiri and Uganda Christian University chess player - Joel Wegoye takes on Elijah Emojong who has struggled for form this year.

Wegoye is a calm and collected player who has been off the scene for some time but is back with a bang and his quality showed in previous rounds as he outwitted experienced players in ex Olympian Shadrack Kantinti and Ali Kikoyo before getting a draw against Olympian Mathias Ssonko to get to 3.5 points out of 4.

A number of upsets have already been registered. Pre-tourney favourite and the highest rated player in the event, IM Ssegwanyi was held by Solomon Lubega in the first round, Emojong has already drawn twice against less fancied opposition in Charles Luwemba and Edgar Ntende while Kenya's Ben Magana suffered a first round loss at the hands of Brian Mugabi. Magana has since recovered by winning the next three games in a row to get himself back into contetion for the top positions.

The event is also doubling as the first phase of the Olympiad Qualifiers for Ugandan players with the top 30 male participants from this event due to be selected to proceed to the second phase of the Qualifiers due to be held next year. In the ladies category, the top 12 will proceed to the next and last phase of their qualifiers. 

In the ladies category, Christine Namaganda and Phiona Mutesi are cruising with maximum points after 4 rounds and are poised to take on each other in the fifth round.

Civil Aviation Authority is sponsoring the biggest local event on the Uganda Chess Federation calendar in memory of the Authority's former Director Airports, the late Cyril Rwabushenyi who was also a long serving Chairman and one of the founder members of the Uganda Chess Federation. CAA is supporting this year's event as part of celebration of the international Aviation Week, which is commemorated every year between 1-7 December.

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