Brahami and Nassr win 2021 Africa Junior Championship
FM Lamine Brahami and WIM Lina Nassr, both of Algeria, are the proud winners of the 2021 Africa Junior Chess Championship. The event held in the Liberian capital of Monrovia from December 29, 2021 to January 4, 2022 saw FM Brahami Lamine score 8 points out of 9 rounds to take his maiden African title. WIM Lina Nassr won the Ladies section by a perfect score 9/9 to grab her second title. She won her first Africa Junior title in the 2017 edition held in Lome, Togo. Both tournaments were officiated by Nesla Adnane of Algeria (Chief Arbiter) and Mario Kpan of Ivory Coast, who provided photos for this article. Open Section The Open Section had a total of 18 players from 8 federations. Liberia, as the host nation, fielded eight players. Other federations included Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda. The race for the top spot between Lamine Brahami and Callistus Denyefa Eyetonghan (pictured below) culminated in the final round. Both had 7 points, and each had a chance of claiming the title. Brahami Lamine beat David Lery Debblay of Liberia and won the gold medal as his main competitor lost to one of the top Egyptian junior players, David George. Still, with 7 points, Callistus tied for second place with Mohamed Abderrahim Taleb of Mauritania and took silver thanks to the victory in the direct encounter. Lamine Brahami qualified for the 2022 World Junior Chess Championship. Final standings: 1 Brahami, Lamine ALG 2212 8 2 Eyetonghan, Denyefa Callistus NGR 2005 7 3 Mohamed, Abderrahim Taleb MTN 1923 7 4 George, Samir David EGY 2063 6 5 Noumbo, Vidal CMR 1756 6 Ladies Section WIM Lina Nassr took the title after winning all her games, while her younger sister WCM Manel Nassr netted 8 points to earn the silver medal. WFM Naledi Marape came in third with 7/9. The champion punched her ticket to the 2022 World Junior Chess Championship. Final standings: 1 WIM Nassr, Lina ALG 9 2 WCM Nassr, Manel ALG 8 3 WFM Marape Naledi BOT 7 4 Abigail, Karyah LBR 6 5 Meleh, N. Davis LBR 5 Text and photo: Kenya Chess Masala
Tata Steel Masters: Duda, Vidit and Van Foreest take the lead
After the rating favourites Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri drew their games, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vidit Gujrathi and Jorden van Foreest jumped on the opportunity to grab the lead in the tournament. The World Champion made a comfortable draw against Andrey Esipenko with black pieces on the move 21. Probably after last year defeat at the hands of the Russian youngster, Magnus opted not to take chances in a roughly equal position. Fabiano Caruana got the upper hand against Sergey Karjakin but missed a couple of good attacking opportunities (21.f4 and 30.bx5) and allowed his opponent to escape with a draw. Praggnanandhaa R. passed the test facing Anish Giri in a rare line of the English Opening with Black. Anish took control over the centre and made a promising pawn sacrifice to grab the initiative, but the Indian youngster cold-bloodily neutralized White’s threats and reached a safe haven. Daniil Dubov sacrificed c4-pawn in his trademarked g3-line against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov but found himself in dire straits after a series of precise Black’s moves. Luckily for him, the Azerbaijani GM did not demonstrate accuracy in a won position and got the Russian off the hook. Jan-Krzysztof Duda took control over the d-file in the game with Richard Rapport, but it would not have been enough had the Hungarian taken an active defensive line. As played, the Polish GM gradually crushed his opponent in an endgame. Vidit Gujrathi took a great start after grinding down Sam Shankland in a slightly better endgame. It seems that 33…f6 was a decisive mistake that ruined the day for Black. Jorden van Foreest also started with a victory over Nils Grandelius, just like in 2021. In the game riddled with mutual inaccuracies, White eventually advanced queenside pawns and scored a full point. Standings after Round 1: 1-3 Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vidit Gujrathi, Jorden Van Foreest – 1; 4-11 Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sergey Karjakin, Andrey Esipenko, Praggnanandhaa R. – 1/2; 12-14 Richard Rapport, Sam Shankland, Nils Grandelius – 0 Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022