Last week when chess chief arbiter Anthony Kionga summoned participants in the 2022 Kenya National Chess Championship (KNCC) to take their seats at Charter Hall, Nairobi, in readiness for the competition’s start, one Hugh Misiko walked in a nobody.
All the focus before, and during the start of the championship that attracted 206 participants — the highest entry ever — was on the big guns, led by Candidate Master (CM) and multiple Olympiad contestant Ben Magana. Magana, a veteran chess player, tops the local standing with a Fide (World Chess Federation) rating of 2,132.
At position 23 (1,785), with no Fide title, and yet to make it to the national team, the name Misiko did not ring a bell in the Open Section’s title race.
At stake in the Open Section was a brand new Mazda Demio car, while the Ladies’ Section’s winner was to pocket Sh100,000.
But at the conclusion of the five-day contest last Friday, Misiko, a 26-year-old player-cum-coach, left a superstar – many, including the big guns giving him a pat on the back for upsetting them to finish second in the tough contest.
Seeing the Eldoret-based businessman get all the attention at the expense of the winner Mehul Gohil, who is Kenya’s second finest chess player at the moment, told it all: he had endeared himself to the local chess community, thanks to his outstanding performance in the championship.
In the end, history was made, and Misiko was part of it. For the first time ever, the KNCC Open Section’s winner was decided in Armageddon – the final tiebreaker in a chess competition.
Before, the furthest the battle of the KNCC Open Section title had gone was the blitz play-off in 2021.
“It felt amazing to finally be recognised as a formidable chess player,” said Misiko in regards to the standing ovation he received at Charter Hall after his impressive performance in the games.
Just like most chess enthusiasts, and players, Misiko admitted to being taken aback by his outstanding performance in the competition.
“It (the impressive performance) was unexpected to me,” said the Knight Riders Chess Club player after the finals. Here, he looked lost in thoughts, perhaps still trying to come to terms with how close he came to owning a car.
It would have been the biggest prize he has ever received since 2014 when he started playing chess after being introduced by a friend in secondary school in Lesotho. “I did not expect to reach the final," quipped Misiko.
Victor Ng'ani (left) and Hugh Misiko go head-to-head during the Kenya National Chess Championship at Charter hall, Nairobi on December 30, 2022.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
"I never even knew that there exists something called Armageddon in chess. It was my first time to undergo such an occurrence, and to be one of the players (in the history of the KNCC) to ever reach that level, well, that was breath-taking to me.”
Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Joyce Nyaruai also put up a spirited fight in the Ladies Section to reclaim the title she first won in 2017.
But the title battle in the Ladies Section was not as tough as it was in the Open Section that had 164 entries out of the 206.
It was after Misiko shocked Matthew Kamau (1944), Gohil (2012) and 2021 champion Martin Njoroge (1973) in round four, five and six respectively that he started getting attention.
While the Knight Riders Chess Club man lost to the 2018 champion Victor Ng’ani (1925) in round seven, he bounced back with a win over Brian Kadenge (1778), before outwitting Olympiad Ricky Sang (1849) in a tough round nine match that had the fans on their nerves because of its implications on the title race.
With Gohil topping on eight points after nine rounds, Misiko needed to trounce Sang in order to stand a chance of winning his first KNCC Open Section title.
A win for Misiko meant that he goes joint top with Gohil, thus forcing a tiebreak between them in deciding the champion.
The tiebreaks in chess are; rapid (15 to 60 minutes), blitz (below 15 minutes) and Armageddon.
While both rapid and blitz have two rounds each, Armageddon is just one round, the player with black pawns needing a draw in four minutes to emerge top while the one with white pawns needing a win in five minutes to triumph.
Mehul and Misiko tied 1-1 in both rapid and blitz tiebreakers, before the 2014 and 2019 champion who had the white pawns carried the day in Armageddon.
Misiko said that since he is not strong in short time chess control he never expected to outsmart Gohil.
“I actually thought that I would be eliminated in rapids but somehow, I managed to go all through to Armageddon, which was new to me,” he said.
“I lacked confidence in the play-off and perhaps that was the mistake that cost me victory. If they (tiebreaks) were classical, I would have won the car.”
Buoyed by his impressive performance in the 2022 KNCC, he has vowed to return stronger in December.
“There is next time and I will make sure that I win with maximum points,” said Misiko, adding the second place finish is his best performance ever in the sport
He recalled that it was after he once defeated Magana in a league match that he developed more interest in the sport.
He attributed his rise in chess to investing his time and money, revealing that his targets are to play for the top clubs in the country and also don the national team colours.
"I have been into serious chess study of between three to four hours daily except on Sundays because I'm involved in church matters. With my own resources, I also strive to play in almost every tournament in the country just to get exposure. I need to be Kenya One someday," he said.
He regards chess as "part of my life", and table tennis, which he plays once in a while as his hobby.
