(Article courtesy of Vianney Luggya, President, Uganda Chess Federation)
East Africa Chess Champion, Patrick Kawuma has upped the stakes by vowing to defend his title in the East Africa Chess Championship that runs from Friday 22nd – Monday 25th April 2011 at Hotel Africana.
Games start at 9 am everyday and there will be a total of 8 rounds played based on the Swiss system with two games played every day. Each game will last for about 4 hours. Registration for participation in the event is UGX (Ugandan Shillings) 10,000/= for Ugandans and US Dollars 20 for non Ugandans.
Kawuma expects to put up a strong and consistent display that will upstage his archrivals for the much coveted trophy. Others in strong contention for the title are Olympian Harold Wanyama, on form Zabasajja Memorial winner Simon Gonza, Rwabushenyi Memorial winner Elija Emojong and former junior champion Arthur Ssegwanyi who have all confirmed participation in the event.
Burundi’s Olympian Deudone Muheto is already in the country to participate in the event and so is his countryman Blaise Muhoza. Burundi players will be participating in this event for the very first time as previous competition has mainly been between Ugandan and Kenyan players. This time round the Kenyans may not make it as their FIDE Arbiter, Isaac Babu who has been spearheading efforts to secure sponsorship for the Kenya Commercial Bank team to travel for the event indicated that they had experienced hiccups and may not make the trip to Kampala.
Other Ugandan stars that have already confirmed participation include Innocent Kimera, Emma Otella, Muke Bright, veterans Geoffrey Kanduho and David Muwanga.
The winner of the Open section and the Ladies winner will each walk away with a prestigious engraved trophy. There will also be cash prizes for the top three in the open and the top two ladies.