Africa
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Where are they now? Jessica Wamala
Jessica Wamala Hometown: Milford, New Hampshire Education: B.A. Villanova University (2013), M.A. Villanova (2014), MPhil Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford (2016) Peak Chess Rating: 1790 (USCF) Chess Accolades: Massachusetts Junior High co-champ, U.S. Open “C” champion Activities: Phi Beta Kappa (honor society), Rhodes Scholar, Villanova varsity women’s basketball, Delta…
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Nigerian schoolboy Tani Adewumi making waves in New York
Tanitoluwa Adewumi Photo by Nicholas Kristof Nigeria has long been one of Africa’s most heralded chess countries with an ambitious goal of producing the next generation of chess masters. Having already produced a number of International Masters, the country has recently launched a fundraising campaign to produce the first Grandmaster…
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Who will be the 1st Nigerian Grandmaster?
Africa is a massive continent with approximately 1.2 billion inhabitants. It has an incredible amount of natural resource and breath-taking natural beauty. The 54 countries that represent the continent are diverse in their makeup and span a spectrum of many religions, cultures, languages and traditions. One tradition that has remained…
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Hurricane Kolade blows through Gilbraltar Chess Open
Kolade Onabogun being interviewed by Tania Sachdev after round three.Photo by John Saunders (Gibchess) Die-hard chess players have an idea of the elite tournaments around the world, but there are few in which amateur players can brush shoulders with the elite brass. Besides the Olympiad, the Gibraltar Chess Open is…
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Chess in Djibouti!
Djibouti at 2018 Chess OlympiadPhoto by Federation Djiboutienne de Jeu d’Echecs Africa continues to expand and add more countries to the community of chess nations. Djibouti, a country of 9.5 million bordering Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, has reemerged from a long hiatus of almost 20 years. The federation registered three…
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Burkina Faso making moves in chess!
We have not written on Burkina Faso since 2014 shortly after they joined the community of chess-playing nations in FIDE. Comité National Burkinabé des Echecs has been very active since 2014 and held national championships in the past three years with Oumar Briba winning in 2016 and Clément Guissou winning…
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Grand Chess Tour coming to Africa in 2019!
Dr. Essoh Essis, President of the Ivorian Chess Federation will host one of the rapid and blitz events as part of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour. It will be the first elite event held in Africa since the 2004 FIDE Knockout in Tripoli, Libya. Photo by Alina L’Ami Hikaru Nakamura…
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Simutowe reflects on 2018 World Championship… format
When I was at the Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia, GM Amon Simutowe was part of many conversations about the future of African chess, particularly Zambia. While the country seeks to raise another GM, the comparisons with the Zambian Grandmaster are unavoidable. He is indeed an iconic figure on the landscape…
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Congo’s Mashala Kabamwanishi shines at Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is chock full of inspirational stories that become part of the event’s history. The Olympiad in Batumi had more than 180 nations participating so there was no shortage of them. In fact, ChessBase India did the best job in capturing the essence of wide experiences among the…
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African Diaspora made a colorful presence in Batumi
Aster Bantiwalu (Ethiopia) Photo by David Llada The Chess Olympiad is a special event and by some accounts is the most important event in chess. It is at the biennial Olympiad that various expressions of chess are seen from every corner of the planet. Apart from the colorful outfits from…
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