The Galleria BYOB – 10th edition

Article by Eric Lutomia
The Galleria BYOB (Bring Your Own Board) series came back with a bang bagged with full of surprises. The 10th edition saw the emergence of the fresh blood in the top prize categories. The emerging youths had come with vendetta after falling out of the prize category for long. They had done their homework right and the dinosaurs were about to fall.
Lennox Mangi, a youthful player and a former TUK player toppled the veteran bigwigs and bagged the prestigious title of the Galleria Shopping Mall BYOB chess champion of the 10th edition. This is after putting up a never-seen before spirited fight. He was launching attacks at every opponent and destroying their territories, which helped him garner a staggering 89 Elo points with a score of 10.5/11 points!
James Panchol had also seemed to be in good shape and was ravenously hungry for the title this time round. His dreams were however cut short by the eventual winner Mangi, after thrashing him in the fourth round. This was the only disappointing loss of the day for Panchol that pushed him to the first runners up position thus getting gift vouchers worth KShs. 4,000.
Ben Nguku had a rough evening as he played dismally unlike his usual self. He conceded defeat from unlikely corners and he had to settle for the tenth position where the gods had dictated he would belong. His Titanic started sinking from the moment he encountered a weakening loss from Githui Victor, a junior who had no time on the clock, 10 seconds to be precise but had the brains and a bishop suffocate Nguku. His eyes flipped, seeing a checkmate from a bishop from an opponent who was running out of time while he had more than a minute to cry over the board. He later succumbed to more losses and a draw.
One promising junior, Isaiah Oluoch, had everyone talking about him after recording a winning streak of five consecutive rounds from the start of the event. He was taking no chances as he hammered the likes of Philip Singe and Anthony Kionga. Unfortunately, after rising to the top, he encountered more dinosaurs who devoured his feeble games rendering his streak fruitless. He could not reach the podium finish but his writing was already on the wall as the highest Elo earner with 158.4 points. He will surely be back.
In the ladies’ section, WCM Joyce Nyaruai garnered 7 points to take home the winner’s purse of vouchers worth KShs. 4,000 as she pipped World Amateur U1700 Champion Madelata Glenda on tie-break, to confine her to 2nd place with vouchers worth KShs. 2,000. Jully Mutisya completed the podium finish in position 3 and got vouchers worth KShs. 1,000.Terrian Chess Academy
Photo credits – Arongoey Photography & Oliver Ananda.
Githinji Hinga wins 9th edition BYOB.
Githinji Hinga wins 3rd edition of BYOB.
Akello Atwoli wins 2nd edition of BYOB.
James Panchol wins inaugural BYOB.

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