Eng. Andrew Naimanye has handed over a dummy cheque of shillings one million (1,000,000/=) to the Uganda Chess Federation (UCF) towards sponsorship of the sixth edition of the Zabasajja Memorial Chess Championship scheduled for March 23-24 at Pope Paul Memorial Hotel in Rubaga.
This is the sixth time that Naimanye, one of Uganda’s six Chess FIDE Masters is sponsoring the event in memory of the late Willy Zabasajja who was Uganda’s national chess champion for a record 9 times and represented the country at a number of World Olympiads in the 80s and 90s where he put up splendid displays.
The Zabasajja Memorial Chess Championship will be an 8 round Rapid event with 4 games to be played per day. Each player will be given 50 minutes to complete their game, a maximum of one hour, forty minutes per game.
There will be cash prizes at stake for the top three winners in the open and ladies categories. Local stars Harold Wanyama, Bob Bibasa, Patrick Kawuma, Arthur Ssegwanyi and Geoffrey Kanduho are expected to lead the challenge in the open event. On the ladies side, Ivy Amoko, Grace Kigeni, Phiona Mutesi, Joyce Kabengano and Cathy Kenyange are expected to slug it out for the top honours.
The tournament will also act as a timely curtain raiser ahead of the finals of the National Chess Championship due in April 2013.
“I was a great admirer of the late Zabasajja’s chess playing style. I hope Ugandan players can emulate his fighting spirit and composure on the board,” Naimanye remarked.
The Uganda Chess Federation is highly grateful to Naimanye’s benevolence which has enabled such an important chess competition to take place.
This will be the second major event to be handled by the new executive after the just concluded National Chess Championship Qualifiers.