Egypt topped the standings at the team’s competition of the African Games Chess Championship, undefeated with eight matches won and one match was drawn, but with just one point margin over Algeria. Zimbabwe, Bronze, performed above their initial expectations and was the only team to hold the winners to a draw.
Egypt’s victory was hardly a surprise, with a line-up that included two of the four Grandmasters present in the competition, as well as the two only Woman Grandmasters. However, the second day of play started with a surprise when both Ahmed Adly and Bassem Amin suffered a shocking loss in their morning games (round 7) against Rodwell Makoto and Emarald Mushore – despite a rating difference of 250 and 500 points respectively. This allowed Algeria to close in a little in the standings.
This result was a wake-up call for the Egyptian team, that cruised past the remaining three rounds defeating Botswana, Zambia and Malawi, getting away with 11 points out of 12 games. This secured their victory, and gave the Egyptians their 17th medal in the African Games.*
Today (Monday) the first five rounds of the individual championship will be played. While in the teams’ event there were 20 nations represented, in the individual championship the number goes up to 24, making chess one of the sports with more countries represented at the African Games.
Contrary to previous editions of the African Games, this year no individual medals are awarded for the results in the teams’ championship.
Official website: https://www.jar2019.ma
Source: FIDE.com
