The Chess fraternity on Sunday elected officials to fill two posts that have stayed vacant for over a year, a situation that often paralyzed operations of the Rwanda Chess Federation (Ferwade).

During an Extraordinary General Assembly held at Hotel Greenwich, in Kigali, Innocent Kangwangye got majority votes to become the new Ferwade President, replacing Sana Maboneza, who stays out of the country.

Christella Rugabira Girizina was elected as Treasurer, replacing Gervais Baziki who is now studying in India.Kangwagye, a professional auditor, promised to work hard to take the game to the next level.

"For the love of the game, I am requesting your support so that we all strive to improve, at federation level and in clubs. I will work hard to ensure that clubs step up their legislation process so that the federation becomes stronger and more vibrant,” Kangwagye said.

"We have important activities underway. Together we shall see to it that they run smoothly. My intention is to promote this good game in the country.”

The new pair will now team up with Kevin Ganza and Alain Patience Niyibizi, the Ferwade Vice President and Secretary General, respectively, to carry out the federation’s mandate until April 2016.

Apart from a three-day mini-chess mentors’ programme that started last Friday, the Federation is supposed to manage a two-day Rwanda vs Kenya challenge match set to begin on Friday. Rwandan chess players last weekend started benefiting from an online coaching programme sponsored by the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa (KCF-A). KCF-A is sponsoring a total of eight hours of online coaching by French Grand Master (GM) Robert Fontaine.

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