The ever jovial CM Wachira Wachania showed steely determination when he defeated top seed Akello Atwoli in a thrilling knock out encounter last weekend to win an all expenses paid trip to the USA to attend the 3rd edition of Millionaire Chess in Atlantic City.
Over 190 players converged at Nairobi Gymkhana with 90 in the Open Section and more than 100 in the Junior Section. CM Wachira Wachania won the first 5 round Swiss Event with a clean 5/5.
The top 4 players in the Open Section then met in the Knock Out Stage with CM Wachira Wachania meeting Martin Njoroge and Akello Atwoli meeting Mohammed Jeneby for two games with 15 minutes each.
In this Knock Out Stage CM Wachira Wachania defeated Martin Njoroge and Akello Atwoli defeated Mohammed Jeneby. The final battle for top prize was now going to be fought between CM Wachira Wachaia and Akello Atwoli with 2 Rapid Games of 15 minutes each and then if tied two Blitz Games followed by Armageddon.
Akello Atwoli lost in game 1 but won the next one to force the Blitz playoffs where Akello was expected to win.
However it was clear that the high stakes involved caused Akello Atwoli to lose his nerves and he lost both Blitz games on time!
Chess players were treated to some great live commentary on a big screen of the Knock Out Stage by GM Maurice Ashley who was the special guest for the event.
In addition to the 1st prize of an all expense paid trip to the USA worth USD 2,500 further cash prizes of KES 120,000 was given to various winners to ensure that this event remained the most lucrative event to date in Kenya. In addition, over 40 glittering trophies were given out to various winners.
38 year old CM Wachira Wachania who is married is a businessman with 2 young boys and has represented Kenya in the 2006 Turin Olympiad.
You can download the games that were recorded by the 5 DGT Boards here – Pgn File
