Many girls and women still keep in the background even when doors of opportunities in all fields have been opened to them. 

But that’s not the case for 10-year-old Murara Umuhoza Layola who has defied all odds to earn a slot on the national team which will represent Rwanda at the 41st World Chess Olympiad slated for August 1-15 in Tromso, Norway. 

Umuhoza, a P.6 Pupil at Green Hills Academy, won the ladies’ chess tournament after beating four other players, some of whom were university students. 

She is a daughter to Maxence Murara, who is also a good chess player.