Woman Fide Master (WFM) Sasha Mongeli is targeting winning a medal in the 13th African Games that kicked off Friday in Accra, Ghana.
Mongeli and top seed Robert Macligeyo are Kenya’s only representatives in the multi-sport championship held once every four years.
“I want to get a medal,” said Mongeli, the reigning Kenya National Chess Championship champion.
But she reckoned that it is a great responsibility for the two to be the country’s only representatives in the competition.
“I’m delighted to get this opportunity to represent my country. But there is also fear knowing that all eyes are on you, and if you don’t perform well, that is it for the country.”
Mcligeyo, 18, said: “It is a great opportunity to represent Kenya well and develop. It took a lot of effort to get to this stage.”
Kenyan chess players competed in the 2007, 2011, and 2019 editions.
Mcligeyo and Mongeli qualified for the African Games by virtue of finishing top in the 2023 Kenya national chess team selection.
Interestingly, the duo also topped in this year’s national team selection that concluded in February.
To have the very best players making it to the national team, Chess Kenya holds the selection exercise in three phases.
Chess Kenya president Bernard Wanjala regretted that Kenya National Sports Council gave the federation only two slots for the quadrennial Games.
“Just like any other competition, a coach must be there so it is sad that they will not have their coach (Ben Magana) with them. But we are confident they will do well,” he said. “I feel that there is no equal treatment. Some (sports disciplines) are being given preferential treatments while others are just taken for granted.”
Apart from playing many matches, Mcligeyo said he prepared for the competition by reading a book on positional techniques and working on his chess openings.
Mcligeyo is Kenya’s male top seed alongside Kenneth Omolo, with 2041 Fide Elo ratings each.
Mongeli is Kenya's second top-ranked female chess player with 1858 Fide Elo rating after top seed Joyce Nyaruai (1878).
