Kenya’s second seed Allan Oyende won the competitive Nairobi Scrabble league that came to an end on Sunday at the Stima Club, Ruaraka.
In the league that has taken three months, started on 17th May to Sunday 1st, saw Oyende, won the title in the 70th game out of 78 in an event that attracted a total of 55 players from the city and its environs.
There were 4 divisions this quarter, namely Wazito (equivalent to the premier division), Intermediate, Upcoming and Handicap.
Oyende won the heavily contested wazito division title with 51 wins out of 78, with a cumulative spread of +4057.
“The league was very competitive but I was lucky to emerge victorious. I have been performing well in some tournaments hence making it to the top was not news for me as well as my competitors,” said Oyende.
Tobias Outi, who had led most of the quarter, won 47.5 games to get second place. Third place went to Nicholas Mbugua, winner in last month’s Bondo tournament.
In the Intermediate division, David Kimani won gold, with 55 wins. Duke Michieka was second with 54.5 wins while Ayub Zande closed the podium with 36.5 wins in the competitive league.
The Upcoming division saw only 6 entries with Richard Okechi from University of Nairobi taking first place with an impressive 22 wins.
Powell Kiplagat got second place with 12 wins while Joan Wangari from Daystar University won bronze with 9 wins.
The handicap division, which gives lower rated players a chance to play the bigwigs was the league’s favourite, with 18 participating.
The highest combined score in the league was 1035 in the wazito division. Tobias Outi scored 550 while David Njenga scored 485.
Action now shifts to Busia County on the 7th and 8th of September.
Additional information The Star Newspaper