Tournament favorite, Elijah Emojong takes to the board this morning against Nickson Munge as the Cytonn Investments Open Chess Championships [Open Section] gets underway at the Hindu Bhavan, Nairobi.
The International Master faces Munge rated 1122 on board one in the first round of the FIDE rated tournament.
In the other affairs that will involve Ugandans, Thomas Katairo takes on one of the unrated Kenyans Brian Chege Gichuhi on board seven, while Rodgers Ntambi will battle it out with Vincent Ndegwa Gichuhi on board eight and veteran chess player Francis Obita will face Jeff Gichuki on board nine.
Patrick Akena, the other Ugandan meets Divynash Kumawat on board 18.
Kenya’s 3rd and 4th seeded players; Hinga Githinji and Mehul Gohil take on Aguda Lwanga and Kemis Abdallah respectively. The two are the highly rated Kenyans in the competition, and are expected to give Emojong a run for money.
The seven round event starts at 8:30am in the Kenyan capital.