ELSA MAJIMBO TALKS CHESS ON NETFLIX’S STRONG BLACK LEAD

Kenyan social media star Elsa Majimbo spent last year taking the world by storm, laughing her way through 2020 with a pair of tiny sunglasses and a bag of chips.

Elsa won international awards and has been featured on Netflix’s show Strong Black Lead, in the video, she speaks about her other side, a chess champion who sees a lot of herself in Beth from The Queen’s Gambit.

“I’m a 15-time chess champion and every time I say this people think I’m joking. I even put in on my Instagram bio and people thought I was joking. The first time I started playing chess it was by chance.

I had just moved schools, I walked towards the swimming pool and I saw many people gathered playing chess. I was like what’s this mysterious game and I went towards them and asked one of the girls to teach me, she looked at me as said it was too complicated, I would never understand.

I went to the coach and asked the coach to teach me, at first, I was horrible but then I had so much time on my hands and then I got better and better. The first tournament I went and came back home super late, my dad called me he is not happy with me coming home late and told me that was my last chess tournament, I didn’t say anything. When I entered the house with a trophy, he took me to every game and that’s how my love for chess began.

Chess and my career are very similar, both of them is all about the long game and end game. My manager would tell me all the time, don’t do this now, don’t take pick this campaign now. You know it was thousands of dollars and to me it was insane and he would tell me to wait for the big backs. When I wouldn’t listen, I’d lose but when I listened, I win, I’m playing the game the best way I can.”