The world of chess has been rocked by a cheating scandal after a man entered a women’s tournament in Kenya disguised as a female.
The Kenya Open Chess Championship is a keenly-contested annual event that sees most of the leading players in Africa competing, as well as top exponents from around the world.
Despite gaining little press coverage overseas during its lifetime the furore over ‘Millicent Awour’s’ participation in Nairobi ensured it made headlines across the world.
Shrouded from head to toe in a burka and wearing glasses, the unknown Awour didn’t arouse any suspicion at first, but once ’she’ started beating high-class opponents, including former national champion Gloria Jumba and top Ugandan player Ampaira Shakira, the alarm bells started to ring, with ultimately a pair of shoes giving ‘her’ away.
Stanley Omondi, who had registered to play as Millicent Awour in the competition, was finally rumbled by officials, although bizarrely they let him carry on until the fourth round afraid they may be criticised and accused of profiling by onlookers because of the religious garb he was wearing.
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Stanley Omondi dressed in a burka and called himself Millicent Awour, but his cheating efforts eventually caught up with himOmondi admitted it was a fair cop to tournament officials and that he had pulled the wool over their eyes, and apologised for his deception, revealing he was desperate for the money – the winner of the women’s section walked away with $3,000 (£2,400). He told them he was “ready to accept all consequences”.
Omondi, a good player in his own right, but who thought he stood a better chance of competing against the women, will now be facing a lengthy suspension from the sport, although Chess Kenya president Bernard Wanjala said he would not be banned forever.
“He acknowledged that indeed he is a man – he regrets what happened, apologised and said he was only doing that because he had financial difficulties and thought winning the title will help him overcome,” Wanjala told BBC Sport Africa.
“We didn’t have any suspicion at first, because wearing a hijab is normal, but along the way, we noticed he won against very strong players.
“Also, one of the red flags we noticed was the shoes, he was wearing more masculine shoes, than feminine.
“We also noticed he was not talking, even when he came to collect his tag, he couldn’t speak, ordinarily, when you are playing, you speak to your opponent... because playing a chess game is not war its friendship.”
The women’s event, eventually won by German grand master Josefine Heinemann, attracted 99 entrants, while the whole event saw over 400 players from 22 countries take part.
While Kenya’s chess federation has dealt with cases of age cheating before, this type of fraud is a first of its kind.
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