AMAZING result at the #worldchessolympiad in #Batumi, Georgia (not the one you might be thinking).

Friends,

The final round of the World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia, is now completed! Spanning 11 rounds over 12 days, it was a grueling schedule even for the most experienced players. Many games would last 4 hours, and some even longer.

The Ugandan women's team ended up dropping their final match to South Africa 1.5-2.5;. In spite of this loss, they ended up tied for 84th place (96th on tiebreaks), while they started the event ranked 114th out of 150 women's teams.

The AMAZING result this Olympiad revolves around Gloria Nansubuga.

As a 5 year old, Gloria taught 10 year old #PhionaMutesi how the chess pieces moved on Phiona’s first day in the SOM Chess Academy (as depicted in Disney’s #QueenofKatwe live-action movie). This year, Gloria was called up to participate in the qualifier for the Olympiad because of a last-minute drop. She was not expected to perform highly, yet she qualified in that match to be one of the 5 ladies on the Ugandan Olympiad team. In the Olympiad she scored the highest of her team mates, winning 6.0 out of 9 games played, and gaining over 100 ELO (rating) points! 

Not only this, but her performance has earned her the Women's FIDE Master title! She is the FIRST Ugandan lady to earn this title based on results in a World Event!

In August 2016, I had the chance to travel to Kampala, Uganda, to coach the Uganda Women’s Olympiad team as they prepared for the 42nd Chess Olympiad. While there, I met Gloria for the first time. In the picture above, Gloria, Sarah Katende (wife of Robert Katende, founder of the #RobertKatendeInitiative), and I were visiting Gloria’s auntie. The boards on the left side of the picture are her aunties’ home- a 6’ x 6’ dwelling. Gloria’s impoverished background makes her successes all the more inspiring and amazing!