Bernice Wambui Gikandi of Lighthouse Chess Club made Kenyan chess history last weekend when she won the Open U12 section at the 2022 Kenya National Youth Youth & Cadets Chess Championship.
Khadija Secondary School in Mombasa was the venue of the event, with just over 1,430 players from 170 schools selecting the national team players for each age group.
The Open U12 Section had 232 players, with Bernice Wambui Gikandi being the only girl!
She obtained a perfect score of 8 points from 8 rounds.
Matthew Kanegeni, a renowned chess coach, who has worked with Bernice Wambui annotates one of her games from the event.
Bernice Gikandi Wambui is 11 years old and a student of St Peters School in Juja located in the outskirts of Nairobi. She has also represented Kenya at the 2021 African Youth Chess Championship in Accra, Ghana.
Get to know Bernice Wambui in 10 questions.
2020 Kenya National Youth & Cadet Chess Championship.
2019 Kenya National Youth & Cadet Chess Championship.
