The scramble for medals grew so stiff at the 2022 Africa Youth Chess Championships that was hosted at Mika Convention Center in Lusaka, Zambia from 2nd to 10th July, 2022. Even before the event kick started, the tournament statistics were like a show off of troops ahead of a gory battle ….South Africa- 55 participants, Zambia 45 participants, Egypt -19 participants etc. ,and everybody was eager to see who gets more medals at the end of the day.
However, at the end of day the king kong was the Egyptian team, which clinched 13 medals (9 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze). The performance brought so much joy to the Egyptians that the team was given a hero’s welcome that included the Egyptian Deputy Sports Minister upon landing at Cairo International Airport.
On their heels were the South Africans who won 12 medals (one gold, 5 silvers and 6 bronzes). Many commended the South African team for fielding the largest number of participants(55).
”No wonder the fruits are now reflecting in their chess. One of the players in their Chennai Olympiad team, Banele Mhango is just 19 years” commented one fan.
The ever efficient Angola , who fielded 5 athletes was third with 3 medals . They won 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze.
Kenya bagged 1 gold medal from fielding 20 athletes.
The glory list continues: Uganda won one silver medal, Botswana 1 silver, Ghana 1 Silver , Zambia 2 bronzes and Malawi 1 bronze .
A scan across the sections.-in the tough under 18 Open Section , Egyptian CM Hany Kamal Mohamed won gold with 7.5 out of 9 , Prospero Alexandre of Angola won silver with 7 points, while Handiya Joseph of Zambia won bronze with 6.5 points.
In the Under 18 Girls Sections, another Egyptian Romany Joy, managed to neutralize the section’s top seed Gabatshwarwe Refilwe of Botswana with a draw in the third round to lead the section all the way to the last round. She finished with 8.5 points. She was followed by WCM Gabatshwarwe Refilwe at 8 points and Zambian Naomi Mwale was third with 6 points .
In the Under 16 Open Section FM George Micheal Kevin of Egypt stamped his seal of authority with 8 points . Levitan Caleb Levi of RSA won sliver with 8 points , and Angolan Sonhy Jaime won bronze with 6.5 points .
In the Under 16 girls Angolan wonder girl , Paulo Jemima who had a rough start after losing her second round game to Egyptian Mahmoud Youssef Noha, managed to catch up and won gold with 8 points. South African Badenhorst Chloe won silver with 7 points , while Egyptian Mahmoud Youssef Noha got the bronze medal with 6.5 points.
Karsten Jan of RSA won the Under 14 Open with 8.5 points, CM Kandil Ahmed
of Egypt was second with 7.5 points and Potgieter Edward of RSA was third with 7 points
Rana Gasser of Egypt won the Under 14 Girls with 8 points. Omprakash Kayyar Sana of Uganda followed her with 7.5 points and Lakshita Dutt of Malawi was third with 6 points.
Mohamed Adham Hossam of Egypt won the Under 12 Open with 7.5 points. Another Egyptian Mina Wael Sabry was second with 7 points, while Judah Nathan Levitan of RSA 7 points.
Egyptian Salma Ahmed won the Under 12 Girls with a maximum 9 points, Helen Christine Rautenbach of RSA was second with 7.5 points, while Hannah Deysel of RSA was third with 7 points.
Eyad Elhusseiny of Egypt won the Under 10 Open with a maximum 9 points , RSA’s Daniel Yang was second with 6.5 points and Samuel Driscoll was third with 6.5 points. The 2 were separated by the Bucholloz tie breaking system.
Alaa Eldin Raghad of Egypt won the Under 10 Girls with a maximum 9 points, Budhram Kaylee
RSA was second with 8 points , Mungal Zoey of RSA was third with 7 points .
Omar Mahmoud Abdallah of Egypt won the Under 8 Section with 7 points , Jeshurun Obiri Yeboah Pryce-Tandoh of Ghana won the section with 6.5 points , Thorulsley Kairaav of RSA was third with 6 points.
Kenyan Kaburo Winnie won the under 8 Girls with a maximum 9 points , Fady Heaven
of Egypt was second with 8 points and Roberts Frans-Leigh of RSA was 3rd with 5.5 points
The event which drew close to 240 participants across the sections was blessed with 2 FMs , 5CMs and 4 WCMs .
A total of 15 countries participated in the event.
Last event took place in Accra Ghana in 2021
Africa Chess Confederation President Lewis Ncube described the event as a success .
Chess Federation of Zambia organized the event under the leadership of Mukubulo Chilufya.
