Uganda Chess Federation president Engineer Emmanuel Mwaka is the 2023 Rwabushenyi Memerial Open Chess Championship champion.
Mwaka and South Sudanese Ajak Mach Duany were joint top after round eight (8) on the final day.
The two were separated a tie-break advantage after garnering seven (7) points each.
Two Kenya Olympiads Nyaruai Joyce and Sasha Mongeli topped the women table on 7.5 and 6.5 points respectively.
Uganda’s Shakira Ampaire became third with six (6) points.
The top three in the females category are Woman Candidate Master (WCM) as the top two (Kenyans) are Olympiads.
The U1900 rating category was won by Wasswa Nyola and Kato Richard both Ugandans.
In the U1600 category, it was a foreign affair as South Sudanese Marko Mabak Kachuol and Somalia’s Yusuf Bashir Daahir won Gold and silver respectively.
Edwin Pido was Overall best boy in the Juniors while Best senior was Geoffrey Kikabi.
The four day championship which started on Thursday 7th and climaxed today Sunday, the 10th December 2023 was held at Nob View Hotel in Ntinda, Kampala.
Over 240 participants from four countries including Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia took part in this year’s edition.
The tournament is in memory of late legendary Cyril Rwabushenyi who served as Director of airports and Aviation security during his working days with Uganda Civil Aviation Authority {UCAA}.
The game’s legend died in Nairobi in July 2005 and was buried at his ancestral grounds in Rugando village, Rwampara County.
He was the first Uganda Chess Federation president. Rwabushenyi serve the federation for two years from 1996 – 1998.
This event was also 2024 Budapest Olympiad qualifier and All Africa Games Accra Ghana in March 2024.
Next on agenda is the Kireka Open starting on 28 to 31st December 2023. The venue is to be confirmed later.
A total of seven (7,000,000) million was given away as prize money to different category winners ranging from Juniors, Open to Seniors.
This year’s open category winner took home UGX. 1,500,000, UGX. 1,000,000 for the second as the third smiled home UGX. 500,000.
The women category winner too UGX. 1,000,000, 700K and 400K went to the second and third respectively.
