JAYSON KARAN
In what seemed like a bold move a Kenyan national has disguised himself to compete in the women’s chess competition.
The 25 year old male Chessboard player dressed himself as a woman and represented his country’s female in an open chess tournament. Dressed head to toe in a burka and wearing spectacles, Stanley Omondi registered himself as Millicent Awour.
It was a good move at first, but Omondi’s daring move was exposed as the organisers got suspicious by the ‘unknown’ player’s success.
It was then discovered that Omondi was actually a man which led to his disqualification from the tournament.
In his defense, Omondi said he dressed as a woman to participate in the tournament due to his financial problems.
He also added that he would accept whatever punishment the tournament organisers would mete against him.
Kenyan Chess president Bernard Wanjala said that while he was likely to get a ban of “several years”, he would not be excluded from chess for ever.
We didn’t have any suspicion at first, because wearing a hijab is normal,” Wanjala said.
“But along the way, we noticed he won against very strong players… and it would have been unlikely to have a new person who has never played a tournament being very strong,” added Wanjala.