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Salama Players Take the Podium at the 2023 Potterhouse Chess Championship

A milestone was achieved for the Salama chess community at the recently concluded 2023 Potterhouse Chess Championship in Nairobi – Salama Gachie Primary School was placed 2nd for the team award and took home the very first school trophy! On the leaderboard of the Under-18 section, Rebaca Wanjiru also tied for second with a stunning performance of 5 points out of 6 games.

Please join CTC’s celebration of this thrilling achievement by the entire Salama chess community, which includes a total of 48 players either with the current chess club members at the Salama Gachie Primary or at 7 secondary day/boarding schools as club alumnae. Their chess understanding and skills have been consistently improving thanks to the great endeavors by CTC’s Global Outreach Team. In the meantime, they are sincerely grateful for the generosity of CTC donors, whose contributions allowed CTC to cover all the incurred expenses to the tournament, including entry fees, transportation, lunch/snack and teacher appreciation.  

Please visit CTC’s Flickr album here to catch the many touching moments at the tournament!

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CTC Instructors Kick Off a New Program for African Chess Beginners

A group of 4 experienced CTC instructors, David Li, Ryan Zhu, Florina Zhu and Max Mottola, is launching a new program of online instructions to help African chess beginners jump-start their chess journey. The first series of online sessions, as a pilot project of this new program, will be taking place from Sept. 16th to Oct. 21st over 6 Saturday afternoons @ 5-6pm Kenya time.

These sessions are appropriate for primary school students 6 years old or above with zero or minimal chess background. They will start with piece moves and chess rules if needed, and will cover basic tactics like mate in ones, forks, skewers, as well as fundamental opening and endgame principles. Homework will be assigned after each session for the participants to work on throughout the following week.

As of now, registration has exceeded 120 and is about to close! Please act promptly and register here. Any questions can be directed to info@chessCTC.org. 

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CTC Welcomes Two More Youth Leaders, Max Mottola and Elsie Kamoni

Two nationally ranked chess enthusiasts, Max Mottola from NY and Elsie Kamoni in Nairobi, Kenya recently joined CTC and were appointed NY Chapter Leader of Global Outreach and Chess Ambassador in Africa. Their passion for the game and their dedication to helping challenged chess peers is what CTC is looking for in future leaders.

Max’s most noteworthy chess achievements include two-time National High School Team Champion. He is part of the pilot project that CTC will soon launch to meet the needs of African chess beginners. Elsie Kamoni, 9-years-old only, has been taking the podium at regional, national and international chess tournaments. Among her long list of impressive chess achievements, her moment of glory undoubtedly goes to the gold medal in the Africa Chess Championship, Under 7 Girls category, which delegated her to proudly carry Africa’s flag in the U8 Girls category at the 2022 World Schools Chess Championship held in Panama City. It was through this world championship that she and CTC Founder WIM Ellen Wang met and started the conversation of working together. Since CTC’s Global Outreach trip in March, Elsie has been volunteering at multiple chess activities organized by CTC, including the chess mini-camp in Ruiru and the chess instructions at Salama Gachie Primary School.

CTC wholeheartedly welcomes Max and Elsie! For their full bios, please check out here.

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