Chess Kenya president Bernard Wanjala is optimistic that Kenya will do well when they host Africa Amateurs Chess Championship (AACC) set for next month.
Wanjala said that when the country hosts such a big event, it provides a good avenue to field many players and is cost effective.
“It is very important to host such an event in the country. It provides a good avenue to field as many players as possible and expose many of them to the game,” said Wanjala.
He added that as a federation, they placed a bid and they won the bid for the hosting rights.
“It is an honour and privilege for ACC to award Chess Kenya to host the event for the first time. The event will be held from 26th November to 4th December at Mombasa Continental Resort,” he said.
As a marketing tool, Wanjala pointed out that hosting the event does not just mean playing but exposing the country for tourism purposes.
“When we host this event, it is not just playing but it is a tool for branding the country and attracting tourism. We have noted overwhelming numbers of those who want to participate and as we speak available slots as per ACC regulations are almost exhausted. In order to appeal for extra slots through ACC President nominations, kindly we would like to request those who are interested to make a formal request and make necessary payment to be guaranteed the slot by 15th November 2022,” added Wanjala.
He said that they are ready to host a big event that will attract thousands of players from across the continent.
He added that when they placed the bid, Kenya was in the political mood and they needed to sit down with the Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba to give the way forward.
“Once we placed a bid for the hosting rights, we were to include the government through the sports ministry, however, it was not possible because of the politics at the time, but now that the new government is in office, we are going to meet with the CS Ababu on Wednesday to present our hosting rights to seek for the support,” he said.