GM Bassem Amin of Egypt is the 2017 African Chess King
Imagine a chess tournament of 28 players with the highest rated at 2672 and the lowest one at 2018. An event with 5 Grandmasters, 8 International Masters and one where the average ranking of the top 10 players is 2470.
The 2017 African Individuals Chess Championship is Africa’s most prestigious event that took place in the historic coastal city of Oran in Algeria. The event ran from 1st to 13th July 2017 and attracted players from 8 African countries including Egypt, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Angola, South Africa and hosts Algeria.
GM Bassem Amin of Egypt who was the highest ranked player at 2672 played extremely well to claim his 4th African Individual title having won the 2009, 2013 and 2015 editions as well.
GM Bassem Amin scored 7/9 points and was level with IM Daniel Cawdery 2416 of South Africa who ended up in second place due to an inferior Bucholz. He also won the Rapid edition of this event while Egyptian GM Adly Ahmed won the Blitz edition.
I have included a fine game by GM Bassem Amin against IM Arab Adlane of Algeria.
IM Arab Adlane v GM Amin Bassem
World Cup
Both GM Bassem Amin and IM Daniel Cawdery qualified for the World Cup which is taking place in Tbilisi, Georgia from 1st to 25th September 2017.
Ladies
The Ladies event had 17 players from 5 African countries Egypt, Angola, South Africa, Tunisia and host Algeria.
WIM Wafa Shahenda of Egypt was the winner in the Ladies section with 6.5/9. She tied with WIM Toubal Hayat of Algeria, WIM Jesse February of South Africa and WGM Mona Khaled of Egypt but had a higher Bucholz.
WGM Mona Khaled of Egypt won the Ladies Rapid section while WGM Wafa Shrook of Egypt won the Ladies Blitz title.
