(Photos courtesy of Turkish Chess Federation)
The World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad began in earnest on Monday, 24th October in Kocaeli, Turkey with a march across the city by delegations from 20 countries including Kenya. While Turkey, UAE and South Africa are being represented by 4, 3 and 2 teams each respectively, the remaining nations have 1 team each.
The Kenyan contingent at the World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad before the opening ceremony march
The Kenyan contingent comprises of Arjun Sengupta, Gowtham Vigneshwar, Srinjay Mukhopadhyay and Lee Jasper, with Arjun being the only rated player (1566) on the team.
A 10-round event, the tournament is slated to end on Monday, 31st October 2011.
Results for team Kenya for the first two rounds are as follows:
Round 1
Slovakia (4) v/s Kenya (0):
1. Christopher Repka (1) – Arjun Sengupta (0)
2. Jergus Pechac (1) – Gowtham Vigneshwar (0)
3. Oliver Spacek (1) – Srinjay Mukhopadhyay (0)
4. Viktor Haring (1) – Jasper Lee (0)
The Round 2 match between Kenya (left) and UAE Team C (right)
Round 2
Kenya (1) v/s UAE – Team C (3):
1. Arjun Sengupta (1) – Aishah Sarhan Almaini (0)
2. Gowtham Vigneshwar (0) – Maryam Mohammed Al Nuaimi (1)
3. Srinjay Mukhopadhyay (0) – Meerah Sarhan Al Muaini (1)
4. Jasper Lee (0) – Ali Abeer (1)