Bernard Lesbros is the new champion of Senegal. The 74-year-old rating-favourite came out on top in fierce competition with Ware Diop and El Hadji Saidou Nourou Ba.
After the preliminaries, the final stage of the Senegalese Championship 2022, a 10-player round-robin with classical time control, took place over the last two weekends in the Arene Nationale de Pikine, Dakar. The reigning champion Amadou Lamine Cissé did not defend his title as he was out of the country.
The championship saw a very close fight, with neither player completing the event unbeaten. Lesbros had a slow start scoring just 50% in the first three rounds but then stringed together six straight victories to finish clear first, a half point ahead of Wara Diop.
El Hadji Saidou Nourou Ba, the only player to defeat the new champion, took bronze.
“It is very difficult to win a national title at my age, but I prepared very well for the event. I even hired a personal coach to achieve this goal,” said Bernard Lesbros with a broad smile in a short interview after the final round.
Final standings:
1 | Lesbros, Bernard | 1878 | 7½ |
2 | Diop, Wara | 1636 | 7 |
3 | El Hadji Saidou Nourou, Ba | 1644 | 6½ |
4 | Marochkina, Nadezhda | 1668 | 5½ |
5 | Bodin-Hullin, Thomas | 1838 | 5 |
6 | Kone, Sidy | 1400 | 4½ |
7 | Ly Abdoulaye, Aziz | 1400 | 4 |
8 | Wane, Al Hassane | 1789 | 3 |
9 | Kaundum A, Robert Diatta | 1635 | 1 |
10 | Diankha, Bara | 1400 | 1 |
Photo: FESEC Facebook page
