Kenya one Patrick Nderitu Gitonga at the weekend’s Annual Masters Tournament scrabble tournament, the penultimate event of Scrabble Kenya event ahead of World English Scrabble Players Association Championships to be held in Goa India in November.
Hosting the event at the Journey Rest Hotel in Makutano, Kirinyaga County was a walk in the park for the host Nderitu who will be anchoring the Word Warriors for the WESPAC tournament when he managed a spread of +1582 after winning 15 out of 18 matches, beating his close competitor Chris Okioma who managed +52 with 10 wins out of 18.
With lack of top players like Allan Oyende, Martin Wafula and Francis Wachira, it was an easy win for Nderitu who said the tournament as part of his training for the Goa.
“This was part of my training for Goa and I want to make a difference in the last event next month,” said Nderitu.
Despite the win, Nderitu said he has a few challenges to sharpen his skills in the last tournament in Nairobi before heading to Goa.
“Yesterday’s event is over and I need to polish some areas like strategies and time management, which has been very crucial to me. With only 25 minutes to play, I have to master my opponents’ letters. I lost one game because my opponent had R which is very crucial in a match,” added Nderitu.
The man who anchored Word warriors to claim the East, Central
and Southern Africa (ECASA) win their third title in a row lost three matches
to brothers Chris Okioma who finished second and Nick Okioma as well as Onani
Magwanga, a fellow Kenya team player.
“It was a hard game against the three especially Onani whom we will play
together in Goa,” explained Nderitu