Local scrabble players converge in nairobi for the third leg of the East Central and Southern Africa Scrabble Championships (ECASA) and World English Scrabble Players Association Championships (WESPA) qualifiers.
Championship leader Allan Oyende and Gitonga Nderitu will be the players to watch at the Standard Chartered Headquarters as players continue their hunt for tickets to Ecasa and Wespa, be staged in Uganda and Las Vegas, USA respectively.
Oyende's 1981 points puts him in good stead in the five-leg qualifiers and believes his superb form at the end of 2022 is inspiration enough.
“I want to play well and maintain my place after ending 2022 on a high.I want to qualify for both Ecasa and Wespac,” said Oyende.
Nderitu, on the other hand, is optimistic he will improve on his game to make the journey to Las Vegas after playing 'badly' in his last championships last year.
“I want to up my game to see if I can make it to Ecasa and Wespac this year. I want to rectify the silly mistakes I made last year,” said Nderitu.
Second seed Nderitu is second to Oyende with 1888 points while Ugandan Edwin Philip Mugisha is third.
Also to watch is upstart Amaar Walji, whose debut in competitive scrabble saw him bypass Division 'C' and win Division 'B'.
It will be interesting to see how he negotiates the Premier Division, colloquially referred to as The Animal Kingdom.
Meanwhile, there will also be elections to pick a new Scrabble Kenya chairman to replace the outgoing Bernard Amuke, with Limo Kipkemoi up against David Kimani.
The duo had a tie during the elections held last year, forcing a re-run.