Grand master Allan oyende shed off the East, Central and Southern Africa (ECASA) woes to win the Scrabble Kenya series in Murang’a on Sunday evening.
After finishing second at the ECASA tournament behind the champion Nderitu Gitonga where Kenya swept the podium with David Kimani in third position held in Gaborone, Botswana over Easter Weekend, the Stima Club member won 13 out of 18 games to be crowned the champion in a highly competitive event that attracted 16 players in the premier Division.
He said that the two day event that started on Saturday to Sunday was an eye opener as he seeks to win the ticket for the Africa Scrabble Championships that will be staged in Freetown, Sierra Leone Come September 23rd to 27th.
“ECASA was very tricky for me but I came here with a sole purpose of redeeming my image, which I have managed to do so,” said Oyende.
He added that he also wanted to end the disappointments I got in Gaborone, which he succeeded.
He said that he will be chasing another title when the series will be moved to Eldoret, uasin Gushu county next month.
“Next month, I will be in Eldoret to defend my title I won last year,” he said.
He collected 1894 points beating day one leader Bernard Koyyoko to second with 271 points as ECASA champion Nderitu Gitonga completed the podium.
He started off with the victory against Robert Mbugua, Onani Magwanga, before losing the third game to Richard Okechi, beat Martins Mutahi and lost game five to Koyyoko and Nderitu in a row as he managed to edge out Nicko Okioma, David Kimani, Muema Muumbi, Stanely Njoroge, Franis Wachia. He lost his 4th game to Fred Magu.
Top ten final leaderboard
- Allan Oyende
- Bernard Koyyoko
- Nderitu Gitonga
- Muema Muumbi
- David Kimani
- Martins Mutahi
- Francis Wachira
- Richard Okechi
- Patrick Litunya
- Kipruto Tarus