Uganda to hold 11 events in ’13

Phillip Corry, “Uganda Chess Federation lines-up 11 events for 2013,” Kawowo Sports, 12 Jan 2013.

Chess players in the country will have to play 11 rounds of competitions in various tournaments this year as the local governing body Uganda Chess Federation unveiled its calendar for 2013 on Thursday.

Uganda made a good presence at the 2012 Olympiad!

Uganda’s Arthur Ssegwanyi, Patrick Kawuma, Harold Wanyama and Bob Bibasa versus Mauritius at the 2012 Olympiad. Photos by Daaim Shabazz.

The first activity on the calendar is a national chess clinic that will be from January 26-27 at Hotel Africana. “It’s the first clinic of its kind and we want children who never played the game to be introduced to it,” Vianney Luggya, the UCF president said in a press statement. “It’s expected to be a massive chess festival that will be helpful for beginners,amateurs and players as the event will be spiced with powerful interactive and useful power point presentations on the game, its benefits and how to improve.”

One of the key tournament’s is the Uganda National Chess Team taking on Nairobi Chess Club in a return leg slated for March 8-10 at Hotel Africana. The biggest event for them will be the National Chess Championship that will be held in April. Their calendar will conclude in December with the much anticipated Rwabushenyi Regional Chess Invitational which was not held last year.

Last year was a good year for the UCF seeing them anoint three FIDE Masters that is Andrew Naimanye, Stephen Kisuze, the vice-president of the federation and Harold Wanyama bringing the number of FIDE masters to six in total. They also attained to Candidate Masters in Ivy Amoko and National Junior Chess Champion Phiona Mutesi.