FIDE arbiter lauds Rwandan female chess prodigies

Kenyan Peter Duke Michieka, a World Chess Federation (FIDE) arbiter has said young Rwandan female chess players have what it takes to be future world champions. Michieka made the remarks at the end of the recently concluded 2015 National Chess Championship, where he was in charge. In the ladies seven-round event, defending champion Marie Faustine Shimwa – of Knight Chess Club (KCC) – cruised unbeaten with all 7.0 points in the two-day event that saw eight youngsters make an impressive debut in the biggest local chess tournament. Twelve female players including three seniors – Shimwa, Odile Kalisa and Christella Rugabira – who played in the 2014 Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway, participated. “Rwandan kids are quite well conversant with the rules of play. Hardly do they make illegal moves and they all know how to record very well,” Michieka told Times Sport. However, despite Shimwa’s dominance, the eight under 17 debutants including 8-year-old Happiness Mutete, a primary three pupil of Ecole Primaire Kinunga, in Gikondo, showed no fear. At the end, Kalisa emerged second while Eagles Chess Club (ECC) team-mates; Sandrine Uwase, 13, and Joselyne Uwase, 12, were third and fourth, respectively. Rwanda Chess Federation (FERWADE) Vice President, Kevin Ganza, said Mutete, who emerged fifth is “undeniably a future champion.” The girls are now training to compete for places in the ladies team of five that will represent Rwanda at the next Olympiad scheduled in Baku, Azerbaijan in September, 2016. Michieka added: “The young girls in the ladies section were in addition most impressive seeing that the ratio of the young girls to seniors was higher. Back home (in Kenya), it’s the reverse.” In his final report, which Times Sport has seen, the Chief Arbiter writes that Rwanda has invested heavily on developing the chess scene in the region and this can be seen through the youngsters who show up to play with the seniors in the chess events. Notably present, Michieka reported, was the impressive Mutete. “It is indeed such a wonderful gesture to see young kids taking on the senior players head to head and win games against them. Ian Murara Urwintwari is also a young lad playing in the Open Section and fast rising to the levels of strength amongst the senior players,” reads part of the report. The open section of the annual National Chess Championship saw Ian Murara, 13, a grade nine pupil at Green Hills Academy and five other adult players battle against senior players, most over 30 years of age, including his father and coach, Maxance Murara. The talented teen who was among the six other unrated players looking to join the cream of the crop if they managed to snatch any point in the nine-round contest surprised many when he beat Rwanda’s most highly rated player, Fidele Mutabazi (2089) in the fifth round to earn a vital win that will now make him highly rated once the actual ratings are published by FIDE next month. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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FIDE arbiter lauds Rwandan female chess prodigies