Peninah Nakabo, 25, is a young chess player of two complete inter-faces.
In her ordinary life, Kireka Chess club member remains as humbled as a cucumber.
Ironically, once settled on the chess board, she is as ruthless as an angry, hungry and wounded tiger in the wilderness seeking for prey.
Currently rated 1581 by the international chess body (FIDE), the reigning African Junior chess champion eyes better performances to further improve the rating;
At the moment, I am training well so that I play well during the international competitions which will help me improve my rating. When I won in Zambia at the African Junior Chess championships, I was accorded a title of FIDE Women Candidate Master which I have to work for to uphold.
Before attaining her current rating, Nakabo was rated 1488th by FIDE.
It was the heroics while in Zambia that shot her rating from 1488 to 1581.
But, Nakabo has the target of reaching the rating of 2000 which is the bare minimum required by FIDE to attain the title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM).
I have a target of reaching 2000 rating by FIDE. That is the reason why I train hard with my training partner, International Master (IM) Arthur Ssegwanyi
This weekend, Nakabo will be among the local chess players who will compete for slots on the team Uganda for the Olympiad championship.
After the Olympiad qualifiers, Nakabo that will be played until 1st July 2018, Nakabo will quickly switch attention towards the successful defence of her Africa Junior Championships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
My target is also to take part in the 2018 African Junior Chess Championship and narrow the gap which is less of 419 points. I will work hard for it and I know I can do it.
Nakabo won the month of March 2018 USPA best sports personality, a reward that comes forth with a glittering plaque and cash reward of Shs. 500,000.
In May 2018, she recently won the Uganda Chess Federation sponsored Rapid open held at Liquid Silk earning Shs 500,000 as IM Arthur Ssegwanyi pocketed Shs750,000.