African Individual Chess Championship 2021
The Africa Individual Chess Championship is one of the tournaments that features most of the top players from the continent. This year's edition is being held in Lilongwe, Malawi. The tournament is already underway as it started on 17th May and will be played till 28th May. The event has separate sections for men and women.
The stakes at the African Individual Championship are high as the 4 top placed players in the open section will qualify for the FIDE World Cup this same year.
The previous edition was held in Tunisia in 2019. Due to the pandemic, last year's edition which was supposed to be held in Nigeria did not take place.
The AICC has been organised annually, since 2013, with the first event taking place in 1998. These are the lists of the winners and the year and city in which they were organised.
| Year | City | Winner |
| 1998 | Cairo(EGY) | Ibrahim Hasan Labib |
| 1999 | Agadir(MAR) | Mohamed Tissir |
| 2001 | Cairo(EGY) | Hichem Hamdouchi |
| 2003 | Abuja(NIG) | Essam El-Gindy |
| 2005 | Lusaka(ZAM) | Ahmed Adly |
| 2007 | Windhoek(NAM) | Robert Gwaze |
| 2009 | Tripoli(LIB) | Bassem Amin |
| 2011 | Maputo(SWZ) | Ahmed Adly |
| 2013 | Tunis(TUN) | Bassem Amin |
| 2014 | Windhoek(NAM) | Kenny Solomon |
| 2015 | Cairo(EGY) | Bassem Amin |
| 2016 | Kampala(UGA) | Kenny Solomon |
| 2017 | Oran(ALG) | Bassem Amin |
| 2018 | Livingstone(ZAM) | Bassem Amin |
| 2019 | Hammamet(TUN) | Adly Ahmed |
This years edition features most of the top players and regular participants.
Africa's only super GM, Amin Bassem, from Egypt, is taking part as the top seed with a rating of 2701. The other GMs from Egypt in Malawi at the moment are Adham Fawzy, Adly Ahmed and Hesham Abdelrahman. Grandmaster Bilel Bellahcene from Algeria is also present in the lineup.
Some of the upcoming young players like International Masters Fy Rakotomaharo from Madagascar, David Silva from Angola and Dante Beukes from Namibia will be featuring. IM Beukes recently won his national championship in Namibia with a perfect score (9/9).
Nigeria is heavily represented at the AICC despite the distance from home. They are represented by 11 players! The host country, Malawi, presented 10 players. Nigerian players will be aiming for the top position in line with their campaign to get a Grandmaster title.
This is the list of the top 20 players participating in this event. For a full list of players participating, check here.
| Name | FED | Rating |
| 1. GM Amin Bassem | EGY | 2701 |
| 2. GM Adly Ahmed | EGY | 2615 |
| 3. GM Bellahcene Bilel | ALG | 2508 |
| 4. GM Fawzy Adham | EGY | 2473 |
| 5. IM Rakotomaharo Fy | MAD | 2429 |
| 6. IM Wageih Kareim | EGY | 2425 |
| 7. IM Bwalya Gillan | ZAM | 2405 |
| 8. GM Hesham Abdelrahman | EGY | 2400 |
| 9. IM Kayonde Andrew | ZAM | 2399 |
| 10. Ajibola Olanrewaju | NIG | 2337 |
| 11. FM Kawuma Patrick | UGA | 2323 |
| 12. FM Barrish Daniel | RSA | 2306 |
| 13. IM Silva David | ANG | 2296 |
| 14. IM Mwali Chitumbo | ZAM | 2285 |
| 15. IM Beukes Dante | NAM | 2284 |
| 16. FM Abdulraheem AKintoye | NIG | 2264 |
| 17. FM Mulenga Prince Daniel | ZAM | 2246 |
| 18. FM Osunfuyi Abimbola | NIG | 2246 |
| 19. FM Talbi Chafik | ALG | 2244 |
| 20. FM Oragwu Chukwunonso | NIG | 2241 |
You can also find a video summary of the top African players from my channel. (Please subscribe 
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After 6 rounds in Lilongwe, Four players; GM Adly, IM Fy GM Bassem and FM Mwale, are leading with 5 points. None of the four have yet lost a game. FM Mwale has been impressive winning all his 5 games even against much higher opposition as he wasn't paired for his first round game.
These are some of the brilliant games the tournament has produced so far.
1. FM Patrick Kawuma defended a fierce attack by the top seed to split the point. GM Bassem had to give up the exchange to stop black's passed d pawn.
2. FM Chukwunonso defeated IM Kayonde with the black pieces to to lead the rankings after round 3.
3. FM Banele defeated Egyptian Grandmaster Hesham with the black pieces. Black's fianchettoed bishop combined with the spatial advantage on the queenside and the double rooks proved too powerful an attack for the Grandmaster.
4. IM Fy played a brilliant game where he sacrificed two pieces for a fierce attack to stop FM Chukwunonso's run.
With just three rounds to go, it's still anyone's chance for the top spot. Make sure to follow the games live as they are being broadcast on Followchess.
