Rwabushenyi Chess Memorial 8th Round Match:
Peter Gilruth (Kenya) 1 – 0 Harunah Nsubuga
It was dubbed a ‘grudge’ game. When Peter Gilruth, one of the Kenyan players who traveled to Kampala for the prestigious 4th Edition of the Annual Rwabushenyi Chess Memorial Tourney that ended on Monday at Hotel Africana, several players had different missions to accomplish.
Whereas majority targeted the hefty prize money at stake courtesy of the sponsors, Civil Aviation Authority, others were in to improve their ratings whilst a few hoped to use the tourney as a fine tuning ground to polish up their game.
For Kenyan chess player, Peter Gilruth and his Ugandan comrade, Harunah Nsubuga, each hoped they meet to prove who is better. Of course, there was a big chance of facing each other owing to the Swiss format of play. When they met the game lasted for six hours plus.
As feat would dictate, the two, who were playing in the rated category, indeed met in the very final round of the tournament (8th round).
The game that started a few minutes after 2 pm ended 6 hours later with the Kenyan, who turns out for Nairobi Chess Club winning the tie in the end game affair, hours after everybody had finalized.
“I could not let him win after he beat me in Nairobi the last time we met”, Gilruth, a director attached to the United Nations Environment Programme in charge of Early warning and Assessment said.
On his side, Nsubuga, in his early 20’s blamed his unfortunate loss to fatigue. “Surely the 6 hours on the board had exhausted, otherwise, there is no way I would just resign”, a visibly disappointed Ugandan said.
At the end of the grueling action, Gilruth, rated 2193 finished 4th to take home Ug.shs 100,000 of the rated players’ staked prize money while the 2152 rated Nsubuga finished a distant 11th out of the 36 rated players in the tourney.
What a game it was.
Peter Gilruth Brief Profile:
Full Names: Peter Gilruth
Date of Birth: 27th November 1953
Marital Status: Married to a Kenyan Wife
Parents: Thomas and Lillian Gilruth
Places of Birth: Chicago, United States of America
Place of Residence: Nairobi, Kenya
Chess Debut: 1961, aged 8 years
Current Chess Team: Nairobi Chess Club
Honours: National League Title (Nairobi Chess Club), Kenya National Champion (2007-2011)
On FaceBook: Yes [Peter Gilruth]
On Twitter: Yes [@ Peter Gilruth]
