Reigning national woman chess champion Marie Faustine Shimwa, 22, this month became the first Rwandan female to get the coveted World Chess Federation (FIDE) rating.

Rwanda Chess Federation (FERWADE) vice president Rugema Ngarambe says the 22-year old can inspire Rwandan girls, including the teenagers now battling for the only five places on the women’s team for the 2016 Chess Olympiad.

Shimwa, rated 1397, is one of the favourites in ongoing qualifiers for places on the women’s section of the national team that will play in the 2016 Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan come September.

Ngarambe said: "There will always be a first. And Faustine is the first FIDE rated Rwandan woman.

Congratulations to her. She really deserves it.

"Now, we expect her to lead the young ones onto the world scene and improve as individuals but also as a team. I’m optimistic there’s potential for improvement.”

The Knight Chess Club player becomes the 22nd FIDE rated player after the world chess body considered results from her performance in the Zone 4.2 Africa Chess Championship held in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, in April.

Shimwa said: "I am so happy since I achieved one of my goals. But this is another challenge as well as motivation for me.”

To get a FIDE rating, an unrated player must compete against five rated opponents and get any draw or win, in a rated tournament.

Her first such major triumph came when she trounced Alain Patience Niyibizi, the reigning male national chess champion, during the 2016 Rwanda Open, early this year.

For two successive years, the third-year Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering student at the University of Rwanda (College of Science and Technology) has kept hold of the national female chess champion crown.

Shimwa’s chess story started a few months before she represented Rwanda at the 41st World Chess Olympiad 2014 in Tromsø, Norway.

A country’s number of rated players may possibly be a measure of strength or growth of the game.

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