Nairobi — When Bradley Wathimba first sat in front of a chess board in 2017, he had no idea he was embarking on an eventful journey beyond Kenyan borders, towards North Africa.
In September last year, the 13-year-old was among 400 participants at the Africa Youth Chess Championships in Cairo, Egypt where Team Kenya finished third on the medal standings with one gold and one bronze.
Although Bradley was not one of Kenya's medalists, he describes the Cairo assignment as one from which he came back with a lot of homework to do as far as his chess skills are concerned.
"There were a lot of games I should have had alternative results but I lost. I didn't think through...I had this problem of giving up easily. However, since then my patience has grown. It was one of my best experiences because I went out of the country for once," he says.
For one who was prodded into the sport, the Grade 8 student at Makini School admits his first international assignment was the wake-up call he needed to take his career to the next level.
This he attributes to playing with the best-of-the-best on the continent.
"If you put in the hard work, you will go far. If you stick to the normal competition around, then you'll just stay here. If you keep meeting the same people and getting the same results, it wouldn't really help you so you need to go out there and challenge yourself with other competition around the world," Bradley says.
Credit to dad
Bradley's journey into chess began at the encouragement of his father, Chrispus Wathimba, who took him to his first tournament at the age of seven.
Wathimba Jr admits chess was initially not his cup of tea but gradually fell in love with it as he came to grips with the basics.
"When he introduced it to me, I decided to just try it and along the way I developed an interest for it. A coach came to our school and I was told to try it out so I started to go for classes regularly," he explains.
As expected, it wasn't smooth-sailing at first but then again the calmest waters never make the greatest sailors.
On numerous occasions, Bradley wanted to call it quits but his inner man kept urging him to persevere.
Thankfully, he is now enjoying the perks of his perseverance in all spheres of his life.
"At first I wasn't so good at it so I felt like giving up. I used to lose tournaments a lot but when I won my first one (at Beacon of Hope School), I gained the confidence to continue and try harder even when I lose. That was one and a half years after I had started playing chess," Wathimba recounts.
He adds: "It has helped me with my academics because after I started playing chess, my grades have gone up. It also helps me with critical thinking. In different situations in life, it teaches me to be patient because in chess you also have to wait for your opponent to move."
Integral to his growth as a chess player has been his coach, Tom Amwai, who he says has held his hand throughout the twists and turns of his journey in the game.
"He is patient with me and gives me time to improve. He's also taught me about consistency because you can't win a tournament this time and then flop in the next one. He gives us materials to work on ourselves in preparation for various tournaments, for example, the Kenya National Chess Schools Championships," he says.
Bradley adds: "He understands his students because not everyone learns the same way. When you have an issue, he's always ready to have a short session with you to address them."
A model student
In classroom, Bradley is a source of pride for teachers as well as peers.
His classteacher, Ann Were, testifies that he is an epitome of discipline, hard work and humility.
"He is somebody you would like to interact with. He's a very cool guy...he doesn't shout, he is just humble. The way he keeps quiet, you cannot really know the kind of person he is but when you get to know him, you discover that he is very disciplined and is loved by his mates," Were, who has been teaching for the past 22 years, reveals.
She adds: "As a student, he is very hardworking. By 7 am, he is already in school and doing his work. Then after school, he goes for training...his chess classes. Sometimes I wonder what kind of strength he has."
Were is a teacher of English in whose hands many have passed and gone on to venture in different careers.
She says her greatest joy is to see her students metamorphose into meaningful men and women in the society.
Concerning Bradley, she attests to the unique train of thought with which he approaches her assignments and lessons.
"There is a book we were reading in oral literature and I had asked the students to give me the character traits of the characters in that unit. Bradley explained a character train that personally I had not seen it...and the way he explained it by analysing a whole page. His reasoning and analysis is far much better than the others in class," Were recounts.
She is confident that students who participate in co-curricular activities achieve holistic growth that will benefit them in the short and long term.
"Personally, I would encourage every parent to encourage their children to take up a sport. There is a way it brings discipline not only self-discipline but even for work. When they learn to be consistent, it is automatically transferred to academics," she says.
Lofty ambitions
For Bradley, his chess career is just a part of the grand plan he has drawn out for his life.
His ultimate target is to become a mechanical engineer and is leveraging on the benefits of playing chess to help him attain this dream.
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"My main dream is to one day become a mechanical engineer. I want to start my own company and build cars from scratch. Also, I want to play chess to the highest level...With the skills that I am learning from chess, I know that it will propel me to my dream of becoming a mechanical engineer," he says.
In the short term, he has his eyes set on next month's Kenya National Youth Chess Championships at Mang'u High School in Kiambu.
The five-day competition -- on May 5-9 -- offers a priceless tickets for best performers to fly the national flag at the Africa Youth Chess Championships on July 14-22 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
A second ever participation at an international tournament would be a just reward for Bradley's decision to swim against the tides of discouragement in the early stages of his chess career.
"Yes, I really want to win at the qualifiers so I can go and compete at this competition again. Back then, I didn't really love chess...most of my friends with who we joined left but I held on and kept playing and it has brought me here now," he says.
At the local level, his aim is to go higher with his club, Mavens, which is under the tutelage of his coach.
Ultimately, he is looking forward to gracing the top tier national league with his club.
Having tasted the flavour of chess, Bradley is undoubtedly hungry for more and has indeed set lofty ambitions for the years to come.
However, on evidence of how far he has come in seven years, these lofty targets may not be too high for him to scale.
