Kenya welcomes Shabazz!

On May 17th, I arranged with Kenyan players to visit Kenya’s Checkmates Chess Club. I had come to Nairobi from Johannesburg and posted on the Kenyan Forum that I was in town. After e-mail and phone call exchanges, both Mehul Gohil and Kim Bhari came to pick me up from the Stanley Sarova Hotel on a rather rainy evening. The club sits right in the middle of downtown Nairobi.

Daaim Shabazz with Mehul Gohil and Kim Bhari.

On the way over, we discussed the controversies surrounding the FIDE Presidential election. We walked into an office building where the club was located and took the elevator to the 2nd floor. The club resides in a rather small room, but there were a few games in progress including a blitz battle. We posed for a few pictures and I distributed 10 gifts I had brought for the Kenyans.

After signing the booklet I sat down and played some blitz with Mehul and several other players on Kenya’s national team. The games were interesting, but I lost more than my share of games. An analysis session from the Wilbert Paige booklet would have been fun. I ended the evening played several games with Githinji Hinga and after we left he had a nice discussion on various topics. It was an enjoyable evening. Full report coming in “65th Square”.