Elizabeth Cassidy Stars in Kisumu Open Classical Chess

 The Kisumu Open Classical Chess Tournament 2023 happened over the weekend of 11th to 12th November at the Scottish Tartan Hotel in Kisumu. This tournament was organized by Kisumu Chess Club.

The tournament had a good turn out and was played in four different categories. These categories were the open, ladies, under 12 and under 9. All the categories had a time control of 60 minutes + 30 seconds per player to finish.

The highlight of the tournament was in the ladies category where we had an incredible win by the 12 year old Elizabeth Cassidy Maina of Kitale School. She emerged victorious with a total of 5.5 points. This was not an easy run as she had to triumph over tough opponents including Francisca Kagwiria of NACHA and snatched an important draw against Jully Mutisya of Equity Chess Club.

In the open category, the top junior was Rishit Ravat of Victoria Chess Club who was ranked 12th with four and a half points followed by 11 year old Jadon Simiyu of Nakuru Chess Club who finished 15th overall with four points.

In the junior categories we had Darien Kigen emerging the champion in under 9 followed closely by Zayn Favour in second and Kyle Omondi in third. In under 12 Elvis Mugilwa Jr was top followed by Arthy Raynerld in second while Javan Jayden finished in third position.