The Egyptian Chess Players dominated the 2021 African Individual Chess Championship, taking four top places in the open section. The event was held from May 17-28, 2021 in Lilongwe (Malawi).
The last championship took place in 2019 before the pandemic. The defending champion, GM Ahmed Adly retained his title in fierce competition with his compatriots. He scored an equal amount of points (8/9) with his fellow countryman and the top-rated participant GM Amin Bassem, but the tiebreaks (average rating of the opponents) favoгred the second-rated player of the competition.
GM Fawzy Adham and GM Hesham Abdelrahman (both Egypt) finished in third and fourth places respectively. All four qualified for FIDE the FIDE World Cup 2021 that will take place in Sochi, Russia from July 10, 2021, to August 3, 2021.
Final standings open:
1 | Adly Ahmed | EGY | 2615 | 8 | |
2 | Amin Bassem | EGY | 2701 | 8 | |
3 | Fawzy Adham | EGY | 2473 | 7½ | |
4 | Hesham Abdelrahman | EGY | 2400 | 6½ | |
5 | Mwale Joseph | MAW | 2148 | 6 | |
6 | Bellahcene Bilel | ALG | 2508 | 6 | |
7 | Chipanga Chiletso | MAW | 2043 | 6 | |
8 | Bwalya Gillan | ZAM | 2405 | 6 | |
9 | Silva David | ANG | 2296 | 6 | |
10 | Barrish Daniel | RSA | 2306 | 6 | |
In the women’s section, WIM Jesse Nikki February emerged as the winner. The 24-year old from South Africa clinched the championship, finishing a half-point ahead of her main rivals. This result also earns her the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title – she needs to fulfill FIDE title requirements, by attaining the rating of 2100.
WIM Lina Nassr tied for second with WIM Ayah Moaataz but took silver thanks to better tiebreaks.
Final standings women:
1 | WIM | February, Jesse Nikki | RSA | 7 |
2 | WIM | Nassr, Lina | ALG | 6½ |
3 | WIM | Moaataz, Ayah | EGY | 6½ |
4 | WFM | Mwango, Lorita | ZAM | 6 |
5 | WGM | Wafa, Shahenda | EGY | 6 |
6 | WCM | Charinda, Kudzanayi | ZIM | 6 |
7 | Shriyan, Santosh | MAW | 5½ | |
8 | WFM | Marape, Naledi | BOT | 5½ |
9 | WFM | Mongeli, Sasha | KEN | 5½ |
10 | WFM | Staal Michaela Francis | RSA | 5½ |
The Closing Ceremony of the 2021 African Individual Chess Championships took place on Thursday 27th May 2021 at Golden Peacock Hotel, Lilongwe.
In attendance were Ulemu Msungama, Malawi’s Minister of Youth and Sport; Kezzie Msukwa, Malawi’s Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development; Lewis Ncube, President, African Chess Confederation, Susan Namangale President of Chess Association of Malawi and many more dignitaries.
Kudos to the African Chess Confederation (ACC) and Chess Association of Malawi on the successful organization of the 2021 African Individual Chess Championships. Our sincere appreciation goes to Mrs. Susan Namangale and the media department at the AICC for providing us with pictures of the event.
