At end of the final round nine on Sunday, Candidate Masters (CMs) Godfrey Kabera and Alexis Ruzigura dominated qualifiers for the open section of the national team for the 2016 Chess Olympiad.

Kabera was first with 8.5 points while Ruzigura, who was outwitted by the former in round nine, garnered 6.5 points.

Only five players will make the open section of the national team.

Others are Eugene Mugema Kagabo (5.5), winner of the tough 2016 Rwanda Open contest Valentin Rukimbira (5.5), a dark horse who battled hard, and Alain Patience Niyibizi (5.0), the reigning male national chess champion who struggled to qualify.

"It was a very strong field a proud moment for me to have emerged victorious. However, the hardest work now lies ahead in getting our team in the best shape possible to represent Rwanda well in the Olympiad,” Kabera told Times Sport on Monday.

Is gamesmanship a concern?

In the end, CM Maxence Murara (4.5) and Fidele Mutabazi (3.5), favorites at the beginning, bowed out in a 10-man contest that appeared to take another turn as it slipped into the seventh round.

At this stage, controversies emerged especially on the fourth and fifth positions – not the entire competition – and rife were allegations of gamesmanship plots. Some thought that those who were getting out of the qualifying picture conspired to give out points to those vying for the last two positions.

Even without concrete evidence for ill intent, suspicion partly started when some players turned up late – beyond the allowed default time of 30 minutes – and thus awarded free points to opponents.

Cases in point include Ben Tom Zimurinda and Jean-Baptiste Hakizimana (nicknamed Fischer) whose lateness benefited Murara and Rukimbira, respectively, at some point. The latter would eventually make it to fourth position and the former (who missed out on qualification) claimed that the lateness or absence of Zimurinda contributed to reducing his tie-break advantage.

Among others, a vexed Murara has claimed that the contest was fraudulently organized to help some players qualify.

He particularly is not happy about the round robin system used. A round-robin tournament is a competition in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn. This, Murara claims, allowed players to know their opponents in advance and then scheme how they would "give each other points.” Murara alleged that the Rwanda Chess Federation (FERWADE) executive committee "is corrupted.”

"Yesterday [Sunday], I said Patience would beat Kagabo even before the game begun. I noted that Jean-Baptiste was going to give Rukimbira a point.”

Asked if he was not only making these accusations because he was eliminated, Murara, countered: "I was not defeated. I garnered 4.5/9 points. Psychologically it [tournament organization) affected my games. You must understand that everything becomes clear in the final rounds even though everything started when they decided on the round robin.”

Niyibizi scoffs at Murara’s claims, saying that the latter had to say what he is saying after failing to qualify.

Niyibizi said: "That is hot air and whoever said that may be forgetting that I am national champion. I have been working harder. Chess is an individual game and if you don’t prove your tactics on board, no one else will do it for you.”

Asked about his poor performance, a performance not befitting a national champion especially since he faced elimination had he not won the final round against Kagabo, Niyibizi said he did not have a clear answer. He added: "Sometimes one can lose energy while playing after three hours of a game. Blunders always happen.”

Rukimbira, Murara’s Knight Chess Club teammate, also laughed at the latter’s claims but did not entirely rule out gamesmanship.

He said: "I did not plan anything with Fischer. He arrived late and I refused to play. As regards others, I don’t care. Ben arrived late and he did not play with Maxence too.

"I think all that happened was normal but arbitration should have answers on the game between Patience and Fischer. This is when the arbiter asked all players to leave the room and Fischer eventually lost when he had a winning position.”

Blunders happen in chess, Rukimbira noted, but the coincidence of an arbiter asking people to leave the room and a game taking a sudden turn was unusual.

The federation has refuted claims of intentional wrongdoing. FERWADE President Kevin Ganza said the round robin is a system – used during qualifiers since 2014 without complaints – that "helps in selecting the best deserving players and at the same time helps our players to keep training.”

Ganza added: "In addition, the draws were made in the presence of most of the players. Only two were not present but were aware and had delegated someone to pick their numbers.

"In the first six rounds, no one complained. It is only when people started realizing they had no chances to qualify that they start crafting accusations.”

Meanwhile, qualifiers for the women section kicked off Sunday. Seven ladies: Marie-Faustine Shimwa, Christella G. Rugabira, Aline Niyonsaba, Odile Kalisa, Monique Uwinkesha, Joselyne Uwase and Sandrine Uwase, are challenging for places on the women section of the national team. The ladies’ contest will conclude on June 12.