Over 1,000 participants from 77 schools are expected in the Nairobi Schools Individual Chess Championship at St. Mary's School on July 20.
The tournament will serve as a qualifier for the Kenya National Schools Chess Championship, slated for August 2-6 at Nakuru High and Nakuru Girls' High schools.
The tournament is organised by the newly established Nairobi County Chess Association, under chairman and International Arbiter Anthony Kionga.
"We are thrilled to host this championship, which showcases the immense talent within our schools and provides a platform for these young minds to advance to the national stage," said Kionga.
"Our goal is to promote chess as a vital part of the educational experience and to nurture the next generation of champions."
The creation of county branches comes as part of the Chess Kenya Federation's efforts to align with the Sports Act 2013.
The teams feature players from under seven to under 17, from different schools including Aga Khan, Banda School, Brookhouse, Brookshine, Chess Ace Nexus, Crawford, Diamond Junior, Gen Z, German school, Home school, Hospital Hill, Montessori, Moi Educational Centre, Nairobi Chess Academy and club, Nairobi Jaffery and Nairobi School.
To qualify for the nationals, players must score at least two points in the competition.
To ensure fairness, Kionga said that they employ a Swiss system that pairs the players, as opposed to a manual draw.
“We use the Swiss system where players of the same points get paired together, while the one with the most points gets declared the champion,” he said.
Schools have played a crucial role by incorporating chess into their extracurricular activities and providing resources for training.
Kionga said the introduction of a Competency-Based Curriculum in schools has helped in the growth of the sport.
“With the introduction of the CBC currirulum in schools, we have seen the numbers shoot up which means more persons are embracing the sport,” he said.