2022 OLYMPIAD-AFRICAN PERFOMANCE UNDER MICROSCOPE

Despite being organized at short notice , the 2022 World Chess Olympiad that was hosted in Chennai , India went down in history  as one of the best Olympiads  ever. Particularly, it was a greater win for the African continent.

AFRICAN  MEDALS

While Egypt, which was the best placed African nation on position 36  couldn’t secure  a medal in group B, a few African countries clinged medals in their respective groups.

Group C

 Tunisia won gold

Zimbabwe won Silver

Group D

Libya won gold

Botswana – Bronze

GROUP E

Sierra Leone – Silver

Eretria –Bronze

AFRICAN PARTICIPATION

A total of 47 African federations took part in the Olympiad, which was an improvement from   the 2018 Olympiad in  Batumi , Georgia which registered 44 Federations  .

CONDITIONAL TITLES

The African continent celebrated when IM  FY Rakotomahoro  of Madagascar achieved the GM norm after scoring 6 out of 9.  Zimbabwean  Zhemba Jemusse also achieved an IM norm after scoring a scintillating 7.5/ 10.  

  Furthermore , there were a total of 12 conditional Fide Master  titles from our beloved continent in the Open Section .  

 And to the deluge , there were a total of 48 conditional  Candidate Master  titles in the Open Section .                                

While none of the African ladies  achieved  Woman Grandmaster or Woman International Master  norms, there were 13  conditional Woman Fide Master titles  for Africa and 42 Woman Candidate Master  titles.

Notably ,    Lubuuto Bwaltya (Zambia), Marochna Nedezhda (Senegal),  Hazel Mudodo( Zimbabwe) , Peninah Nakabo (Uganda), Jemima Paulo (Angola)  achieved conditional  WFM titles .

On the overall performance, the top performing African  federations in the Open Section were :

1. EGYPT 36  which started at rank  38
2. TUN 51,  which started at rank       77
3. RSA   55    from rank      68
4. ZIM 58  from rank         94
5. Liberia  81 from rank   122
6. UGANDA   82 from rank  90
7. ZAM    83 from rank  73
8. South Sudan  92  from     109
9. Nigeria  94 from   78
10. Botswana 100 from   113                                                                                                                                             
11. Ethiopia  101 from 110

LADIES

Top performing African federations  in the  Ladies  section were :

1. Egypt 52 from 44
2. Algeria 70 from 62
3. Kenya 73 from 99
4. Angola 74 from 69
5. Zimbabwe  76 from 94
6. Zambia 85 from 87

SPARKS OF BRILLIANCE

There were jovial faces across Africa when Angolan IM David Silva (2315) held the mighty GM Levon Aronian (2775) to a draw in round one of the Olympiad.

Another great performance that was much talked about was Zambian  Nase Lungu’s (2216) win over GM  Martin Haubro (2411) in their triumph over Denmark  . Lungu also went on to beat GM Emmanuel Berg  of Sweden (2533) in a subsequent round . Namibian Dante Beuke’s win over Tunisia’s Zaibi Amir 2398 was also a talking point.

https://chess-results.com/PartieSuche.aspx?art=36&id=4377991(FM Nase Lungu vs GM Martin Haubro)

However, teamwise , Zambias 2.5 to 1.5 win over an all grandmaster  Denmark is considered Africas greatest achievement of the event.

AFRICAN DERBIES

In mouthwatering Open Section African derbies

EGYPT BEAT ANGOLA 4-0

EGYPT 3 VS 1 RSA

ZAMBIA 2.5  VS 1.5 EGYPT

RSA  2 VS 2  ZIMBABWE

TUNISIA 3 VS  1 NAMIBIA

MADAGASCAR  2.5 vs  1.5 TUNISIA

JUNIOR PARICIPATION

It was encouraging to see some African teams fielding young players in the Olympiad.

Quite a number of African Federations  included  junior players. For instance, Botswana fielded an all junior ladies team of the likes of : Naredi Marape, Natali Banda, and FM Besa Masaiti .Nigeria had Joy Onoja ,  and Algeria has  Rania Nassr.

In the Open section,  South Africa had 19 year old Banele Mhango , Algeria had 20 year old  Lamine Brahimi  .  Ethiopia has Badene Hayu, Morocco had 20 year old  Hadj Kholti, Yasser  – just to mention a few.

ELECTIONS

Another great event that was activity that took  place was the

A least Africa is represented at Fide by Nigerian Adeyami . At the helm of the Africa Chess Confederation is  Tshepiso Lopang of Botswana who won with 29 votes.

For the Zones , the following won.

 Zone 4.1  Marouane Tabti (Algeria)

 Zone 4.2 Philip Ameku (Ghana)

 Zone 4.3 Barthelemy Bongo (Gabon)

 Zone 4.4 Yassin Souleyman (Djibouti)

 Zone 4.5 Susan Namangale (Malawi)

 Overall in the Womens Section

     Ukraine won gold

     Georgia won Silver

     India won Bronze

While in the Open Section

Uzbekistan won gold

Armenia won Silver

India Bronze