SPICENET (Tanzania) Limited organises Tanzania Open Chess Championship-2013 in Dar

The Spicenet Tanzania director Vinay Coudary speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam recently

By Nasser Kigwangallah

SPICENET Tanzania Limited, in collaboration with Tanzania Chess Association (TCA) organised an open international tournament named Spicenet Tanzania Open Chess Championship (TOCC) 2013.

The three day event was held in Dar es Salaam from 14^th to 16^th June, 2013 at Golden Jubilee Towers in downtown Dar es Salaam under the supervision of the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

Th event was graced by Nigel Short, the renowned chess grandmaster from United Kingdom and Alina Lima, a woman chess championship star from Romania.

The championship, one of its kind to be held in the East African region, was attracted by 80 players from 10 countries, including Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Others were United Kingdom, Romania, Finland and Zambia

Speaking to this reporter at the venue on Sunday, Vinay Choudary, the Spicenet Tanzania Limited director said as sponsors of the tournament, Spicenet has spent about 50m/- to organise the event.

“We have spent 50m/- to organise this event, the objective being to promote chess in Tanzania and nothing more,” he said.

He added that he doesn’t want to get any returnss out of it.

Mr Nigel Short, the chess grandmaster from the United Kingdom playing chess. He won the first prize

A total of five winners with the overall points  were awarded trophies and cash money as follows; the 1^st winner was Mr. Nigel Short from the UK who scooped a tophy and 1mil/-, the 2^nd runner-up was Emojong Elijah from Uganda who got 500,000/- and a trophy, the third, fourth and fifth placed pocketing 300,000/-.

The rest will get a consolation prizes of 100,000/- each.
The tournament is sponsored by internet service providers, Spicenet Tanzania Limited (STL).