2025 African Junior Chess Championship – Zuri Kaloki grabs a bronze medal

The 2025 African Junior Chess Championship ended last weekend with Zuri Kaloki of Kenya grabbing a bronze medal in the Girls Section by scoring 6.5 points out of nine rounds.  WIM Jana Mohamed Zaki of Egypt won the gold with 7.5 points.  The silver went to the talented WFM Sana Kayyar Omprakash of Uganda.

There was a loud cheer for Zuri’s sterling achievement, as the last medal Kenya won in an African Junior Chess Championship was a bronze medal won by William Arogo Juma in 1990.  For our Ugandan neighbours, it was a proud moment for them as well, as it was their first medal in an African Junior Chess Championship event.

WCM Chahrazad Djerroud (two-time Champion, 2023 & 2024) of Algeria, the defending Champion in the Girls Section, found the going tough and ended up with 4.5 points, ranking 11th.

The Girls Section featured 17 players from 9 federations.

The Open Section

IM Hamed Wafa won this year’s edition with eight points out of nine and carved his name into the history books by becoming the first person to win three successive editions of the event!

His compatriot GM David George Samir won the silver medal with 6.5 points, while FM Xavier Mompel Ferruz of Equatorial Guinea won the bronze medal with 5.5 points.

This section featured 19 participants from ten federations.

Kenya’s top-rated player, FM Jadon Simiyu, narrowly missed a bronze medal, finishing 4th in the ranking with 5.5 points.

This year’s event was the 36th edition and is the continent’s premier junior event.  Kenya has hosted this event three times (1992, 1993 and 1998).

FA Dennis Wambugu of Kenya was one of the arbiters in this prestigious event.

Game Corner

Photo Gallery

Poster

Interesting chess facts about Cape Verde

The chess federation, Federação Cabo-verdiana de Xadrez, was registered in 2016 and participated in its first Olympiad in 2018.

The top-rated player is IM Mariano Ortega Amarelle with a rating of 2380.

The federation has a total of 54 players, of which 53 have a FIDE rating.

The federation President is Francisco Manuel Carapinha.

Interesting facts about Cape Verde

Location

Cape Verde, also known as Cabo Verde, is made up of 10 islands – nine are inhabited, one is not – as well as a string of islets off the coast of Africa. 

These islands are about 570 kilometers (354 miles) off the coast of West Africa.

The islands were referred to in the ancient Roman work “Historia naturalis” by Pliny the Elder. Ancient classical writers referred to the islands of Cabo Verde as “Gorgades”. This was a reference to the island where the ancient Greek hero Perseus killed Medusa, the Gorgon.

European Arrivals

The islands of Cabo Verde were uninhabited until the Portuguese arrived on the island of Santiago in 1462. The islands would become a base for Portugal’s slave trade.

When Europeans came to Africa they grouped Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde as one country with Portugal being the colonial power.

Both Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde fought for their Independence, with Guinea-Bissau being the first to gain Independence in 1974, followed by Cape Verde in 1975. The two nations then split up in 1980.

Other facts

The capital city of Cabo Verde is called Praia on the island of Santiago .  The name “Praia” means “beach” in Portuguese.

The current Cabo Verde flag has five horizontal stripes, which are unequal in width. The colours of these stripes are blue, white and red. There is also a circle with ten yellow stars inside it. These stars represent the 10 islands of Cabo Verde. 

The population of Cabo Verde is almost 600,000 people and the official language of Cabo Verde is Portuguese.

The currency of Cabo Verde is the Cabo Verde escudo (CVE).

The blue represents the sky and ocean, the white represents the road to building a prosperous nation and peace, and the red symbolises the efforts of the people to realise this.