The Kenya Open Chess Championship is an annual open chess tournament played in most editions in Nairobi, Kenya. The inaugural event was played in 1979 and was won by Richard Polaczek. The event is usually organized by the Chess Kenya federation.
The event is the largest and most lucrative international tournament in Africa. The tournament was originally known as the Panpaper Open sponsored by Panafrican Paper Mills (EA) Limited until the early 90s. The tournament is usually played over the Easter Holiday weekend in April.
The 2023 edition had a prize fund of USD 43,000 (approximately KES 5.5 million) and had 445 players from 20 federations participating, including seven grandmasters.[1]
Winners edit
All players finishing equal first are listed; the winners after tie-breaks are boldfaced.
# Year Open Category Ladies Category 1 1979 
Richard Polaczek (Belgium)2 1980 
Saifudin Kanani (Canada)3 1981 
Aslam Adam (Kenya)27 2016 Ben Nguku (Kenya)[2] Mehul Gohil (Kenya)
Triza Mwendwa (Kenya)
28 2018 
Harold Wanyama (Uganda)[3]
Joyce Nyaruai (Kenya)
29 2019 Joseph Methu (Kenya)
Joyce Nyaruai (Kenya)
30 2022 Harold Wanyama (Uganda)
James Panchol (South Sudan) Haruna Nsubuga (Uganda) Emmanuel Egesa (Uganda)
Triza Mwendwa (Kenya)
31 2023 
Timur Gareyev (USA)
Josefine Heinemann (Germany)
