3/26/2024 – After it set off from India, the Chess Torch relay — which will travel the world celebrating the first centenary of FIDE — has reached the African continent. The torch arrived in Ghana’s capital, Accra. Highlighting the transformative power of chess in education, Seth Panwum, Chairman of Ghana’s National Sports Authority, remarked: “We want to develop the best versions of our young ones, and we see that chess in education can play a great role in it”. | Photos: Niki Riga

3/16/2024 – The African Individual Championships 2024 kicked off on March 13 in Accra, Ghana, the city that recently hosted the chess competition of the 13th African Games. Both the open and the women’s championships are 9-round Swiss events with a classical time control. The events run until March 20.

9/1/2019 – The 12th edition of the African Games took place in Morocco from August 23rd to the 31st. Chess was in the mix for a fourth time and, much like in the general standings, the Egyptian representatives dominated their opponents, as they won gold medals in all five competitions: Team Rapid (mixed), Rapid (open and women's) and Blitz (open and women's). Algeria finished second in the team event and collected three bronze medals in the individual competitions. | Photos: Mohamed Bounaji / FIDE

10/7/2018 – The FIDE Presidential election was not the only heated contest at the FIDE Congress. The African Chess Confederation held an election for its President and deputies as well, which proved to be much closer than the FIDE election and included its own case of "withdraw and endorse" at the eleventh hour. But unlike Nigel Short, ACC candidate Tshepo Sitale's plea to support insurgent candidate Essoh Essis failed to tip the scales sufficiently to stave off Lewis Ncube — an Ilyumzhinov loyalist who supported Dvorkovich — who was narrowly re-elected to a new term. | All photos: Macauley Peterson

10/2/2018 – Later this week, delegates to the African Chess Confederation will vote on a new presidential administration following the FIDE General Assembly in Batumi. Three candidates, each a veteran of African chess politics, will face off in a race which in some ways mirrors the larger FIDE election campaigns. Ogunsiku Babatunde, CEO of Africa Chess Media, endeavoured to arrange an in-person debate to allow delegates to hear from each of the three candidates. As of late Monday, two of the three candidates have confirmed participation in the debate to be held Tuesday between 7 and 9 pm local time. Mr. Lewis Ncube is expected to give a response Tuesday morning. There has already been a preliminary debate-like discussion, however, held via the group chat application WhatsApp, and we share that with you here.

8/21/2018 – Australian Grandmaster DAVID SMERDON is semi-retired from chess after getting married, returning to his hometown of Brisbane to take up a professorship in the School of Economics at the University of Queensland. He still blogs occasionally and recently published a fascinating two-part story about a trip to Kenya, which we bring you with kind permission of the author. | Pictured: Chess players from Alliance Girls’ High School, Nairobi, who sometimes play against their brother school, and they enjoy playing — and beating — the boys. | Photos: DavidSmerdon.com

8/14/2018 – Photojournalist and IM ALINA l'AMI continues her reflection (see Part 1) on the Ivory Coast Rapid & Blitz Invitational, with gorgeous photos and a unique story recounting what the tournament winner, Bassem Amin, calls "the best tournament in Africa". | All photos: Alina l'Ami

8/10/2018 – The Egyptian GM Bassem Amin won the Invitational Rapid & Blitz event held in Abidjan, July 24th to 30th. We previously reported on the results but now give it the ALINA l'AMI treatment. | Pictured: From left to right: (top row) GM Bassem Amin (EGY), GM Kenny Solomon (RSA), IM Mokliss El Adnani (MAR), IM Andrew Kayonde (ZAM), IM Fy Rakotomaharo (MAD), (bottom row) IM Arthur Ssegwanyi (UGA), GM Slim Belkhodja (TUN), IM David Silva (ANG), GM Mohamed Haddouche (ALG), IM Oladapo Adu (NGR) | All Photos: Alina l'Ami

4/12/2018 – American Hikaru Nakamura, one of the world’s top chess Grandmasters, has shown his generosity by honouring a pledge he made earlier this year to assist two promising junior players from South Africa to further their chess careers. Hikaru identified the two young talents during his visit to South Africa in January while he was attending the South African Junior Chess Championships. Khanya Mazibuko (pictured), one of the selected players, was able to secure a win against his idol during the 100 player Simul in Johannesburg. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/1/2017 – Never has the Top Ten looked so crowded with so little to separate one from the other. In fact, every single player has been world number two at least once, if only for a day. One constant has re-established itself, and that is Magnus Carlsen's domination, as he opened the gap to 36 Elo points after a win at the Isle of Man. Of note also is Egyptian GM Amin Bassem who became the first African to crack 2700. | Photo: Alina L'Ami

8/25/2017 – You've seen Queen of Katwe, the story Phiona Mutesi, now 20 years old, and her rise through chess from a life of poverty in a Ugandan village. Now meet Kitty, a seven year old girl who is representing Uganda at the African Schools Individual Chess Championships in Zimbabwe. | Photos: Bridge International Academies

1/25/2017 – After visiting Africa on a tour, GM Maurice Ashley was deeply moved by the extreme poverty, underlying beauty, and promise of hope. Instead of just writing about all this, he decided to take action, and together with Graham Jurgensen, they enlisted the help and patronage of the Paul Allen Foundation, as well as the Kasparov Chess Foundation in the USA and Africa, to take three grandmasters on a training tour for 18 weeks in Africa. Join Maurice Ashley, the KCF, and ChessBase, and get involved!

5/12/2016 – The Africa Zone 4.3 Chess Championships under the auspices of the African Chess Confederation took place in Mauritius at the RIU Le Morne beach resort from the 23rd April to 2nd May 2016. The tropical Indian Ocean Island is more famed as a beach holiday destination than as organiser of FIDE continental chess tournaments, yet the result was an event in a paradisiacal setting.

8/4/2015 – The third and final KCF Africa sponsored Millionaire Chess satellite tournament concluded in Johannesburg, South Africa on Sunday 20th July. The series of African satellite tournaments came about as a result of a unique collaboration between the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa and Millionaire Chess and has had a massive impact as a development initiative on the African continent.

9/20/2014 – The Nairobi Chess Club is the oldest chess club in Kenya, and in late August it hosted the 56th Club Championship, with 78 players at the start. The event was won by former Olympian (1988/1990) and 1990 Kenya National Champion Larry Kagambi with a perfect score of five wins out of five games. Kim Bhari, Chairman of NCC, has sent us a big illustrated report.

5/3/2014 – Migingo is one of the smallest, most densely populated pieces of real estate in the world. This small island has been a source of sabre rattling by both Kenya and Uganda, and the Nairobi Chess Club has chosen to name its matches against Uganda after this volatile battleground. The third edition was once again won by Uganda. Pictorial report by Kim Bhari.

2/25/2014 – This weekend there was an unusual chess tournament in South Africa, sponsored by a movie production and the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa. It was run by Reuben Salimu and his African Chess Lounge, a community project that is doing extraordinary work in Cape Town. The ACL even taught chess to 360 inmates of a rehabilitation centre. Pictorial report by Graham Jurgensen.

2/18/2014 – In their ongoing efforts to promote women chess abroad, WOM (FIDE Women Commission) sent WGM Anastasiya Karlovich from her frozen home in Ukraine (-15 C) to a toasty Botswana (+35 C). There she met the Botswana Federation officials, who showed their commitment to developing women chess by being the first nation to create its own Women Commission. A beautiful illustrated report.

10/8/2013 – In part one of her report on a trip to South Africa IM Elisabeth Pähtz showed the German delegation introducing chess to schools and training teachers. As part of their tour they also visited Soweto, historically the richest, but nowadays one of the poorest suburbs of Johannesburg. There on an open field they set up a giant chessboard to attract children, for whom this was a first encounter with the game. Part two of Elli's big pictorial report.

10/6/2013 – Last month a delegation of German chess teachers and sponsors travelled to South Africa, as part of the FIDE Chess in Schools program and the Kasparov Chess Foundation, which is engaged in introducing chess to schools all over the world. It is truly inspiring to see how young children take to the game, and how their teachers are motivated to work with them. Part one of a big pictorial report by IM Elisabeth Pähtz.

7/20/2013 – Former World Champion Garry Kasparov and his wife Dasha just completed a trip across seven African nations to meet with chess and education officials as well as chess players and kids. It was part of the Kasparov Chess Foundation's drive to bring chess into education around the world by gathering public and private sponsors and organizations together. We have a giant pictorial report.

5/23/2013 – The logo of the Botswana Chess Federation says “30 Years of making smart moves.” They made one more of them with their decision to host a FIDE training seminar in the capital city of Gaborone from 3-8 May, during Zonal tournaments there. Senior FIDE Trainer GM Dejan Bojkov headed the seminar, but also took time to look around the country. Here his beautiful pictorial report.