Richard Okechi edged out bigwigs to win the opening leg of Scrabble Kenya national tournament held in Nairobi.
Okechi, the winner of both Kitui and Nairobi championships last year, won 13 games, losing five in the two day tournament as players seek slots to represent the country at both the Africa Scrabble Championships (ASC) and East, Central and Southern Africa Scrabble (ECASA) in Monrovia, Liberia and Lusaka, Zambia.
With the national team, the Word Warriors, the national Scrabble Kenya team gearing up for the continental championships as the event is part of the both ASC and ECASA qualifying round, playing Division A, which is a World English Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) rated.
Seeded 6th overall, recorded six straight wins at the start, beating SK president Kipkemoi Limo in game one, followed by wins against Raphael Oduor, jared Omollo, Tony Ochola, Bernard Koyyoko and former ECASA champion Nderitu Gitonga.
The man who anchored team kenya to win bronze at WESPAC in Accra, Ghana, lost the first match in game 7 against Michael Gongolo but he recovered well with a win against Stanley Njoroge then Willy Mwangi handed him the second loss followed by David Kimani for the third loss.
Top ten finishers
- Richard Okechi
- Jared Omollo
- Bernard Koyyoko
- Stanley Njoroge
- David Kimani
- Willy Mwangi
- Gitonga Nderitu
- Tony Ochola
- Micahel Gongolo
- Kipruto Tarus