Eagles win National Chess League with two rounds left

Eagles B – one of the two teams fielded by Eagles Chess Club (ECC) – are, technically, winners of the National Chess League, after trouncing Eagles A and Vision Chess Club (VCC) on Sunday. Two final matches will be played on April 3, in Kigali, but after Sunday’s two rounds Eagles B leads the table with 16 team points followed by Knight Chess Club (KCC), with nine points. Teams field five players each and, a round win earns a team two points while a draw earns one point. Eagles B beat Eagles A 4-1 on Sunday morning and went on to beat VCC 4.5-0.5 in the afternoon. Third and fourth are KIST Chess Club and Eagles A, respectively, both tying with eight points. The former has a tie break advantage as it has four wins in all previous games while the latter has three wins. A depleted Eagles A squad lost all its matches on Sunday and, Alain Patience Niyibizi, the 2015 male national champion, one of the key players who were unavailable admits that it will now be a “tough fight” to challenge for second spot. Niyibizi said: “If it hadn’t been for some of our players missing in action, we would have gunned for first position but now, even getting second spot won’t come easily but we shall fight on.” For the very first time, the National Chess League was played in Huye district, and not in Kigali as the hosts of rounds seven and eight were the Huye-based NUR Chess Club.

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Eagles win National Chess League with two rounds left