Match “Nairobi vs Wedel”
Following the tradition started 17 years ago, NCC embarked in a new international online match.
6 members of NCC had the privilege of playing an overseas online match against the German team of Schachfreunde Wedel (SFW).
SFW is a relatively small chess club from Hamburg, with two sections. Juniors meet on Fridays, while adults gather on Tuesdays. The club has about 30 licensed players who regularly take part in official German competitions.
One of their members is Mushfig Habilov (Mischa) who lived in Nairobi in the 2010s, was member of NCC and served as Director of Play. In his new life in Hamburg, he is engaged in coaching the juniors.
It’s worth mentioning that this match has been possible thanks to Mischa’s effort in putting together a team of German enthusiasts from SFW.
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The event took place on Sunday, Sep. 27, 6 pm -Kenya time- / 5 pm -Germany time-
The participants played their games online on lichess using a time control of 25 min + 10 s increment.
FIDE and DWZ ratings were the systems for pairings the players. DWZ is the particular national rating system used only in Germany and it was necessary because not all German players had a FIDE rating. In fact, German rating is not very much different from FIDE system.
Every participant played 2 games (Black & White) against the same opponent.
Also additional conditions agreed in pre-match arrangements were:
- In round one SFW would play the white pieces and would prepare and send the first challenges
- After first game a short break was suggested to allow players to refresh and refocus on the next game
Favoring SFW, the final score of the match was 3,5 – 8,5.
All participants were punctually online and the match ran quite well with players enjoying the experience. Fortunately, no remarkable incidents happened during the event.
Final Results
| NAIROBI | 9 – 13 | WEDEL |
| Johnmark Mugo | 1 – 1 | Milan Adamovic |
| Phillip Marcellinus | 1 – 1 | Victor Lamzin |
| Ryan Kimani | 1 – 1 | Norbert Reimann |
| Winny Atieno | 0 – 2 | Mushfig Habilov |
| Olive Sang | 0,5 – 1,5 | Ralf Toepfler |
| Mercy Thiga | 0 – 2 | Felix Reszewski |
When in 2009 NCC organized an online 6-board match against Wageningen Chess Club (The Netherlands) a tradition for international online matches started.
Now, 17 years later, and in 5 years, NCC has played 18 online international matches with more than 10 boards in most events.
Being founded in 1958, Nairobi Chess Club is the oldest chess club in East Africa, and also leader in approaching not only chess to people, but also approaching people through chess.
