Report submitted by Kim Bhari, Chairman of Nairobi Chess Club.Event photos by Kim Bhari. Migingo Island is situated in the middle of Lake Victoria. For decades, this fishing village has been famous for a dispute between Kenya and Uganda over who owns sovereignty. Nairobi Chess Club continues to make waves in African chess. In 2009 [...]

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UG: Ugandan Team Set for Showdown with KenyansKE: NCC Simbas Roar Ahead of Historic Match Versus Ugandan Side Posted on 10 February 2012 (Press release courtesy of Nairobi Chess Club) Kenya’s best chess players take on an elite Ugandan side this weekend in an event dubbed “Battle for Migingo”. The historic encounter which kicks of [...]

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GM Dmitri Reinderman arrived in Kenya on yesterday to give a chess clinic including lectures and exhibitions. He held a simultaneous exhibition of 35 players and today is holding a blindfold session. It will be the first time a Grandmaster has visited Kenya since Nigel Short’s visit in 2005, but the first training session since [...]

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Kangugi ‘KK’ Karanja featured on the cover of Executive Magazine (December 12 1988). Courtesy of Kim Bhari. Kim Bhari has gone back into his chess archives and made available some vintage newsletters and pictures. For those in the U.S., they may remember a child prodigy named Kangugi “KK” Karanja who blazed the trail of scholastic [...]

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Paras Gudka has announced the launching of a website that covers east African chess activities. “Chess Events EAC” will announce scheduled events in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, but also has a function for events outside the East African Community (EAC). The site will also have historic reports, games, photos and a collective reservoir [...]

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Top Boards (Open) Azerbaijan 1½-2½ Ukraine Armenia 1½-2½ Russia 1 Georgia 1½-2½ France Israel 2½-1½ Hungary Cuba 1½-2½ China Bulgaria 1½-2½ USA Round #9 Analysis: We are winding down the Olympiad and the Ukraine is still holding onto its one-point lead. Russia 1 beat defending champion Armenia with Peter Svidler beating Gabriel Sargissian. Trying to [...]

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On May 15th, I left Chicago’s O’Hare airport for a long journey to Africa. I finally set foot in Africa on May 18th in Johannesburg, South Africa. My trip was delayed two days because of a passport issue. I finally got my passport corrected, boarded my flight and flew a smooth 15 hours over the [...]

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On May 17th, I arranged with Kenyan players to visit Kenya’s Checkmates Chess Club. I had come to Nairobi from Johannesburg and posted on the Kenyan Forum that I was in town. After e-mail and phone call exchanges, both Mehul Gohil and Kim Bhari came to pick me up from the Stanley Sarova Hotel on [...]

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The Chess Drum’s Daaim Shabazz will arrive in Africa on May 12th with a contingent of faculty members from universities around the continental U.S. The group will visit a number of businesses, organizations and sites in South Africa (3 days), Kenya (5 days) and Tanzania (5 days). Shabazz hopes to be blogging from Africa and [...]

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Kenya has a budding chess community and recently finished its Olympiad qualifying tournament. Thus, they have named the team that will travel to the Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, Siberia. Mehul Gohil writes an intriguing account of the qualifiers and sends a collection of very captivating photos. Enjoy! THE ROAD TO SIBERIA By Mehul Gohil Not [...]

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Like many African nations, Kenya is one with an interesting history. However, their chess history is a bit less storied. Kenya has a small community, but the passion runs high. As part of an ongoing initiative to ignite excitement in Kenya, a friendly match was proposed. Mehul Gohil of the Kenyan “Simbas” sent in the [...]

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The life of a politician is one of many twists and turns. It is a high-profile position and one that requires the public servant to be accountable for every single action. Perhaps no public office is under more scrutiny than the Head-of-State. President-Elect Barack Obama will soon find out the highest level of accountability required [...]

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Illinois Senator Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States of America handily defeating Arizona Senator John McCain. In this historic event, it turns the page in another chapter of Black history. Having only been declared eligible to vote in 1964, this is a historic moment resonating throughout the African Diaspora. [...]

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Kenyan team to Dresden Olympiad selected By Lt. Edwin Korir After 3 gruelling phases to select the Kenyan chess Olympiad team, it was finally chosen last weekend. Peter Gilruth, Ken Omollo, Martin Gateri and Ben Magana make up the team with Ben Nguku as first reserve. The qualifiers started last December during the national championships [...]

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Alex Makatia and Issac Babu Odiah (both of Kenya) at 2004 Chess Olympiad (Mallorca, Spain). Photo by Daaim Shabazz. As you all know, the country of Kenya is gripped in a tragic crisis. While not going into specific details, the nation is literally being torn asunder. Kenya, one of Africa’s most stable economies, has taken [...]

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 Kenyan ace, Ben Magana  I have found a story on the Kenyan team and their strategy to field their boards in reverse order… from weakest to strongest. This is sometimes called “stacking” your boards. The idea is that the lower boards will be sure points and anything the top board can get will be a [...]

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