The Best African Chess Players

Africa is amazing. It is the 2nd biggest continent in both size and population. They have amazing animals and deserts. But did you know, they also have amazing chess players? 

Today, I am going to present 5 of the best chess players in the continent of Africa.

Honorable Mention: Bouaziz Slim

Bouaziz Slim is a Tunisian Grandmaster. He was the first African chess player to achieve the GrandMaster title.

Bouaziz was born on the 16th of April, 1950. 

He gained his title in 1993 after completing his third GM norm at a Dutch tournament. At the age of 73, GM Slim is still active in chess, although he’s now more into organizing tournaments.

He is regarded as an African chess legend who has paved the way for chess development in the continent. He is:

• The only African chess to player to participate in 5 Interzonal Tournaments of the World Chess Championships.
• The two-time winner of the Arab Chess Championships.

#5 Simutowe, Amon

Amon Simutowe is a Zambian chess grandmaster. He is the first grandmaster from sub-Saharan Africa and the third black chess grandmaster in history. He is no longer active at chess.

Peak Rating: 2486

Current Rating: 2449

Amon's mother tragically passed away before he was 2.

Amon initially had a dream of becoming a striker for the Zambian football team. But later his brother introduced him to the 64 squares, and Amon's interests shifted immediately. At age 14, Amon won the Zambian Chess Championship (year: 1996). In 1999, he won the African Chess Championship. The following year, he won it again with a perfect score of 11/11. He was placed second at the World Junior Championship of 2000.

Amon

He was called the "The Zambezi Shark" due to his Fischer-like play in chess. He scored a 6.5/11 in the British Championship. He represented his country in the Chess Olympiad of 2000 and scored 8/10 on board one. Due to his amazing play in 2000, he was awarded the "Zambian Sportsman of the Year".

Outside chess, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master of Science in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford.

Here is one of his best games:

He had 2 brilliant moves in that game + an accuracy of 93%. An amazing game!

#4 Hamdouchi, Hicham

Hichem Hamdouchi is a Moroccan-French chess grandmaster.

Peak Rating: 2628

Current Rating: 2527

Hamdouchi has won the Moroccan Chess Championship eleven times, the first time when he was 15 years old and allowed to compete in big events. In the same year, he was recognised for his talent at the Casablanca tournament and qualified for Morocco's national team to compete in the 1988 Chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki. He qualified for the African selection for the World Team Chess Championship in Lucerne at the age of 17. In this tournament, he defeated Jeroen Piket, John Fedorowicz, and Ye Jiangchuan.

Hicham, during a game.

He was the 3rd African to become a Grandmaster.

In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 in Tripoli he progressed to the third round, where he was eliminated 0.5-1.5 by eventual runner-up Michael Adams. 

Hamdouchi transferred to the French Chess Federation in 2009. He won the French Chess Championship in 2013 and was a member of the French team that won silver at the European Team Chess Championship in Warsaw. He returned to the Moroccan Chess Federation in 2016.

Here is one of his best games:

#3 Fawzy, Adham

Adham Fawzy is a chess player from Egypt. He was born in the year 2000.

He attained the Grandmaster title in 2019. He is the third-highest ranked active Egyptian player and the fourth-highest rated African player.

Peak rating: 2535

Current rating: 2535

Fawzy Adham showed his dominance when he cruised to win the 2018 Africa Junior Chess Championship in fine style.  He won the event with a round to spare and ended up undefeated to obtain 8.5 points out of 9 rounds.

Fawzy during a chess game

He won the African Junior Chess Championship again in 2019. He finished third in the 2021 African Chess Championship and qualified for the Chess World Cup 2021. He won the 2023 African Chess Championship.

Here is one of his best games:

#2 Adly, Ahmed

Ahmed Adly is an Egyptian Grandmaster. Adly, a chess prodigy, earned his International Master title in 2001 at the age of 14 at the 2004 U20 Championship. Adly went on to earn his Grandmaster title in 2005, becoming the youngest African to do so. Adly is rated second highest in Egypt and Africa.

Adly was born on February 18, 1987, in Cairo, Egypt.

Adly's father taught him chess when he was six years old. When Adly grew older, his father saw his aptitude and encouraged him to pursue a chess career. 

Adly began his professional chess career at the age of ten in 1997. He finished sixth in the U-14 category at the World Youth Chess Championship in Cannes, France. Adly went on to take third place in the World Championship U18 in Greece in 2004. Adly went on to win the Arab Youth Championship four times before becoming a grandmaster in 2005. Adly also won the African Chess Championship in 2005.

Adly had expressed admiration towards Mikhail Tal and his attacking style, having been inspired by him.

Here is one of his best games:

#1 Amin, Bassem

Bassem Amin is a Chess Grandmaster from Egypt.

FIDE awarded the Grandmaster title to him in 2006. Amin is the highest-rated Egyptian and African player, as well as the only doctor with a FIDE peak rating of 2700 or above. Amin is also a six-time African chess champion and the current African champion.

In 2004, he finished fourth in the World Youth Chess Championship U-16 in Greece. He won the 2005 African Junior Chess Championship shortly after, qualifying him to compete in the 2005 World Junior Chess Championship.

At the 2005 Arab Chess Championship, he earned his first Arab Chess Championship title while also earning his first grandmaster norm. In the same year, he won the African title and finished third in the World Youth Chess title (U18).

Amin Bassem

He is one of the 7 doctor-grandmasters. 

He scored 8.5/11 on Board 1 at the 41st World Chess Olympiad, leading the Egyptian National Chess Team to achieve the best result in Egyptian Chess history and win a Gold Medal.

While making this blog, I found out that there are only 14 chess grandmasters from Africa! I found this interesting.

Why Africa has so few Grand Masters

1. Underdevelopment

When people are poor and hungry, their main aim is to figure out how to survive. Hence, many Africans don't get the time or luxury to play chess or any sports for that matter.

2. Lack of Resources

Due to a lack of sufficient training and resources, amateur chess players in Africa struggle to progress. Many people do not even know about the game of chess due to its lack of exposure.

3. Language barriers

How many languages do you think Africa has? 200? 500?

Africa has 2000+ languages, and due to the underdevelopment, there is hardly any chance of a translator for these languages. Most African languages are not even recognized yet.

4. Corruption

Africa has a lot of corruption and crime. The level of corruption in Africa is so deep, that it basically is present in every single thing - including chess.

Chess is becoming more popular in Africa day by day. Many African masters are trying to teach the youth about the game and provoke interest in it. 

African chess players will hopefully be among the best in the near future. 

Conclusion

I speed-wrote this blog in 4 hours. I hope you liked it.

I know that this blog wasn't so good, but I hope my next blog will be better :0

Thanks for reading!

Have a good day!