Africa
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Peace Flags… Kenya
Alex Makatia and Issac Babu Odiah (both of Kenya) at 2004 Chess Olympiad (Mallorca, Spain). Photo by Daaim Shabazz. As you all know, the country of Kenya is gripped in a tragic crisis. While not going into specific details, the nation is literally being torn asunder. Kenya, one of Africa’s…
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2008 Botswana National Championship
Kenneth Boikhutswane, “Chess Season Kicks Off,” Mmegi/The Reporter, 25 January 2008 (Gaborone, Botswana). The 2008 chess season kicks-off tomorrow at Naledi Secondary School with the first round of the national championships. The event marks the first step in what is likely to be a rigorous battle to the national crown.…
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Ugandan Chess in Crisis
Sande Bashaija & Lambert Rusoke, “Cash Crisis Hurts Chess ,” The Monitor, 3 January 2008 (Kampala, Uganda). There were some tremendous individual performances but financial hiccups continued to hinder the development of chess in 2007. The Uganda Chess Federation (UCF) was throughout the year rocked in a financial quagmire that…
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2007 African Junior Championship (Malawi)
News just in from chessalee blog… Kareim Wageih of Egypt won the African Junior Championship in Malawi. He scored 7/9 in a tournament with a field of 23 players. Calvin Klaasen of South Africa was second on 6.5/9. There were four players knotted with 5.5/9 including Melissa Greef who is the…
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Questions about Botswana Chess
Top African chess journalist Kenneth Boikhutswane wrote a very interesting article which points to many of the problems concerning African chess. The story raised the question of why Botswana, one of Africa’s most economically stable countries, was not sending a contingent to the 2007 African Junior Championship held in Malawi last…
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News from Uganda!
Steven and Moses Kawuma at the 2004 Chess Olympiad in Mallorca, Spain. Winning a spot on the Olympiad team is a high honor and it provides a player to (1) represent their nation (2) travel internationally and (3) play strong competition. The Chess Drum has covered two Olympiad tournaments and it…
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What’s next in Black Chess?
The year 2007 had some interesting developments both in general and within the African Diaspora. The World Cup brought us the first non-European champion since Robert James Fischer and saw Viswanathan Anand rise to the top of the rating charts. There was the exciting knockout tournament featuring the resurgence of Gata…
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Khetho wins Botswana Clash!
Kenneth Boikhutswane, “Khetho is chess champ,” Mmegi.com, 18 December 2007. FIDE Master (FM) Phemelo Khetho played well to win the challenge match-up against Ignatius Njobvu at Yarona Country Lodge over the weekend. The duel between the two players ended with the FM beating his opponent 3-1. While Khetho is the…
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GM Baba Sy: World Checkers Champion
I have written a few stories about draughts (checkers) on The Chess Drum. What is amazing is that players of African ancestry have a formidable presence in the game with many Grandmasters in French-speaking Africa. One of the best players ever is Baba Sy (pronounced “see”), a Senegalese master who…
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