Joseph Bugabo, "Chess Federation Aims Higher," The New Times, 11 March 2005 (Kigali, Rwanda).

The Rwandan Chess Federation, FERWADE, plans to revamp chess in the country with the aim of getting more internationally ranked players.

In an interview with Times Sport recently, the president of FERWADE, Ngarambe Rugema, said Rwanda currently had only two players ranked by FIDE, the world chess body.

He said that the tournament, which kicked off on 4th March at Hotel Meridien will spread over weekends, until the final which is slated for 13th March.

At the same time, Rugema revealed that the open tournament was modeled along the Swiss system.

"A player can join at any stage of the tourney but is not allowed to quit. This is to prevent disorganizing pairings and to avoid stronger players meeting weaker ones in the final since this would not help in the final rankings," Rugema explained.

He added that the sport was not yet popular among women, adding that plans were underway to involve the Ministry of Gender in this endeavour. Currently, the federation has given out chess equipment to some schools.

Rwanda is set to host the East African Chess tournament in December this year.

Meanwhile the Rwanda chess open tournament got underway over the weekend at Hotel Novotel with Dr Ben Karenzi cruising his way to the top of the table, Eugene Mutara, reports.

Radio Flash's Alex Ruhumuriza settled for a second spot followed by RDF Captain Mwinkarago. The pre-tournament favorites Edison Niyontegereje together with vastly experienced Maxence Murara and Fedeli Mutabanzi were off colors at the commencement of the tournament.

The tourney, which aimed at testing the levels of the players have registered 24 players after having registered 22 players, one of whom was female, at the start. The tournament is scheduled to end on the weekend of 12th-13th March 2005 at the same venue.

Rwanda at the Olympiad (2002 & 2004)

Posted by The Chess Drum: 14 March 2005