Nderitu Gitonga registered a maiden win in the Scrabble Kenya Championships with victory in Machakos today ahead of Africa Scrabble Championships (ASC) formerly Pan African Scrabble Championships (PANASA) set for next month in Lusaka, Zambia.
Coming from a long break due to the coronavirus, Gitonga finished 4th at the East and Central Africa Scrabble Association (ECASA) Championships in Uganda in April, finished 4th, went to Bondo (3), Mombasa (3) and finally a win in Machakos, the last qualifying round tournament.
“I tried to play well over the weekend especially on Sunday to win the Machakos leg and that has boosted my ego heading to ASC. This was my maiden win in the series after taking a long breakn since the coronavirus pandemic,” said Gitonga.
On Saturday, he started with a win against Ayub Zande but he registered two successful losses in game 2 and 3 against Philip Mutinda and Onani Magwanga. Returned with victory against Stanley Njoroge, Otieno, and Francis Wachira but the winning ways was cut short by Bernard Koyyoko in the 7th game but recovered to beat Martin Mwaka, Oyende, Tobias Outi and Muema Muumbi.
On Sunday, he started well too, beating Michael Gongolo and Robert Mbugua before losing the 4th game to Okech.
| 1 | 13–5 | +764 | Nderitu, Gitonga (A3) | 2L:370-420:A21 |
| 2 | 12–6 | +918 | Oyende, Allan (A2) | 2W:499-362:A17 |
| 3 | 12–6 | +343 | Njoroge, Stanley (A4) | 1W:413-377:A5 |
| 4 | 12–6 | +195 | Muumbi, Muema (A19) | 2W:490-445:A9 |
| 5 | 11–7 | +459 | Okechi, Richard (A17) | 1L:362-499:A2 |
| 6 | 11–7 | +436 | Koyyoko, Bernard (A5) | 2L:377-413:A4 |
| 7 | 11–7 | +330 | Magwanga, Onani (A11) | 2W:438-397:A15 |
| 8 | 10–8 | +502 | Outi, Tobias (A8) | 2W:427-329:A20 |
| 9 | 10–8 | +446 | Busienei, Hillary (A21) | 1W:420-370:A3 |
| 10 | 10–8 | +352 | Litunya, Patrick (A9) | 1L:445-490:A19 |