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Kenya aims to improve performance at 2016 Chess Olympiad

Xinhua, August 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

Kenya aims for a top 100 finish at the 42nd Chess Olympiad scheduled for Sept. 1-14 in Baku, Azerbaijan, officials said on Tuesday.

Kenya team coach Stephen Ouma said the team consisting of five women players and five men players, trained well and prospects for the biennial tournament are high.

"It is unrealistic to expect us to register better results than a top 100 finish considering the fact that Kenya were ranked number 149 during the last championship," Ouma said during a ceremony to award the Kenya Chess Olympiad team a sponsorship cheque towards the event.

The coach said chess is gaining popularity in the country, adding that he expected good results from the team, which jets out of the country to Baku Wednesday evening.

The Championship is organized by the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) and over 2,200 participants from 176 countries and regions are expected to take part in the competition.

The East Africa nation first participated at the Chess Olympiad in 1980 during which it registered its best results so far finishing at position 13 with a silver medal to boot.

This will be the 16th time for Kenya to be represented by men's team and the seventh time for Kenyan women to take part in the competition.

The International Olympic Committee excluded chess from a list of Olympic sports because it is not a physical sport, but a game of the mind.

In Olympics, most events are combination of games and every event is performed in such a way that defines competition along with physical ability. FIDE later came up with the Chess Olympiad to cater for the game's adherents. Endit