It turned out his 2472 Elo rating set the whole tournament ablaze!! Top seed IM Ortega Amarelle Mariano of Cape Verde had no serious problems winning the 2022 Zone 4.2 Africa Individual Chess Championship that took place at Hotel San Manick Annex in Lomé, Togo from 19th March to 27th March, 2022.
Having scored 8 straight wins, when he played his last round game against 2171 rated CM Onokpite Kennedy of Nigeria, IM Ortega Armarelle Mariano , was not under any pressure whatsoever , and the draw result that tallied his points to 8.5 , was even more than enough to seal the 1200 USD top prize deal.
The triumph also earns him a ticket to participate in 2022 Sharjah Challenger Chess Championship in United Arab of Emirates.
FM De Gondo Simplice Armel of Ivory Coast was second at a distant 7 points. He pocketed 900 USD.
Nigerian IM Balogan Oluwafemi , who is usually remembered as the African World Cup flag carrier who tussled with the seating World Champion at the 2017 World Cup, was third with 6.5 points. He pocketed 750 USD.
IM Anquandah Francis Eric of Ghana was fourth with 6 points-same number of points as fifth placed Nigerian Oluwadara Adegbayi . The Buchollozz tie breaking system separated the two.
The other 2 podium finishers, at 5 points each, were CM Onokpite Kennedy of Nigeria on 6th position and Ghanaian Adu Poku Kwabena on 7th position . The 2 were also separated by the Bucholozz tie breaking system
These pocketed 500 USD, 400 USD, 300USD and 200 USD respectively.
As if not enough , IM Ortega Armalrelle Mariano went on to win the supplementary Blitz tournament with a maximum 9 points. He was followed by IM Balugan Oluwafemi on 7.5 points and Oluwadara Adegbayi was third with 7 points.
In the ladies section , the ladies section seem to have one stumbling block in Ofowino Toritsemuwa of Nigeria , who spat fire on the other ladies throughout the tournament, scoring a maximum 10 points in the double round robin.
Benson Maud of Ghana was second with 7 points , while Liberian wonder girl Abigail Karyah was third with 6.5 points .
The open Section fielded 27 contestants while the ladies fielded only 6 .
Zone 4.2 is one of the Zones that changed beyond recognition after the reconstruction of the Zones that happened in July 2019. . Zone 4.2 now comprises of Ivory Coast, Nigeria,Liberia , Mali, Ghana, Togo, Gambia , Sierra Leon and Cape Verde.
None of its previous members: Seychelles, Egypt, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia and Sudan fall under this Zone name anymore.
In this year’s Zone 4.2 event, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Liberia , fielded athletes in both sections, while Senegal, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone only fielded athletes in the Open Section.
Gambia and Mali were the only absentees.
Last edition of Zone 4.2 took place in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2019. The Zone failed to hold OTB games in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid 19 Pandemic and lack of funding.
GM Ahmed Adley , the defending champion was unable to defend his title because Egypt is now in Zone 4.1.
The ladies defending champion WFM Ivy Amoko is also unable to defend because Uganda is now in Zone 4.3.
Philip Ameku of Ghana is the current president of Zone 4.2 .
Talking about the host Federation , Togo – its one of the youngest federations in Africa , barely birthed in around 2003.
Ndjelle Abby Edah is the current president of the Togo chess federation.
Having once served as Fide General Secretary , Noel Fumey is regarded as a great son of the Togolese Chess Federation.
For detailed results about the tournament go to the link below
