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Little-known Cynthia Awino is over the moon after outplaying all her competitors from across the globe to win the 2021 Mombasa Open Chess Championship, her first major title.

The 22-year-old Technical University of Kenya (TUK) student said that playing in the championship for the first time, and going on to win, is special to her and has fueled her desire to register for more tournaments in the future as she seeks to establish a name for herself in the world of chess.

“This is a big achievement for me and I’ll forever be grateful to God for that, not forgetting Chess Kenya and all the organisers of the event.

I look forward to representing my country in chess events and attaining a Woman Fide Master title in the future.

It was a tough one, I can say, but at the moment, I feel motivated to play more tournaments and win,” Awino told People Sport.

Awino emerged the best lady with 6.5 points out of a possible seven points, dethroning last edition’s champion Daphne Mwikali.

In the second position, it was a tie between the reigning ladies national champion Gloria Jumba of KCB Bank and Mercy Igando of Lighthouse Chess Club with 51/2 points respectively.

Uganda’s FIDE Chess Master Haruna Subuga was in a class of his own as he floored his opponents to be crowned the winner of the senior men’s title, Open Section, after scoring a maximum of seven points from seven rounds played. 

He was followed closely by Kenya’s Joseph Methu of KCB Bank and Mathew Kanageni of Equity Bank with 6.5 points while the third position was also a very tight contest between Githinji Hinga, Austin Walela, dethroned champion Mehul Gohil and Dr Victor Ngani .

In the schools’ category, KBA School emerged best with  21 points. Makini School was second (16 points) as Mombasa Chess Academy came in third (eight points).