2025 African Championship: Bilel Bellahcene and Shrook Wafa claim titles
GM Bilel Bellahcene (Algeria) and WGM Shrook Wafa (Egypt) are the newly crowned African chess champions. The #1 Algerian, Bellahcene edged out to top-seeded Egyptian GMs to secure his maiden title, while Wafa captured her fifth African crown, repeating her successes of 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2019. The 2025 African Chess Championships (Open and Women’s sections), organized in cooperation with the International Chess Confederation (ICC) and the African Chess Federation, were held at the Pyramids Park Hotel in the Pyramids region from May 13–20. Both the Open and Women’s events were 9-round Swiss tournaments played with classical time control, bringing together top players from 17 African countries vying for individual titles. The Open tournament was fiercely contested and evolved into a thrilling race among the rating favorites. Top-seeded GM Bassem Amin (Egypt) took the lead after Round 6 and maintained it until the penultimate round, when he lost to fellow Egyptian GM Ahmed Adly, who caught up with him. Meanwhile, fourth-seed Bellahcene capitalized on the opportunity by defeating GM Ahmed Alaa Ahmed, entering the final round a half-point ahead of the two Egyptian grandmasters. In the final round, Bellahcene (pictured below) achieved a winning position against IM Hamed Wafa, but ultimately settled for a draw. With Amin and Adly both winning their final games, all three players tied for first place. However, Bellahcene secured the championship title on tiebreaks, thanks to the highest average rating of his opponents. Amin took silver, while Adly completed the podium with bronze. Final standings – Open 1 GM Bellahcene, Bilel ALG 2504 7 2 GM Amin, Bassem EGY 2649 7 3 GM Adly, Ahmed EGY 2597 7 4 IM Wafa, Hamed EGY 2367 6½ 5 FM Fadi, Marko EGY 2244 6 6 FM George Samir, David EGY 2346 6 7 IM Ezat, Mohamed EGY 2296 6 8 GM Fawzy, Adham EGY 2513 6 9 Ahmed, Moustafa Elsayed EGY 2079 6 10 FM Yousry, Salah EGY 2256 6 Complete final standings – Open Section In the Women’s event, Shrook Wafa (pictured below, right) delivered a dominant performance, scoring an impressive 8/9. She remained undefeated throughout the tournament, conceding only two draws. The 2023 African Champion, Lina Nassr, finished second with 7/9 to claim the silver medal, while 15-year-old Jana Mohamed Zaki caused a minor sensation by capturing bronze and increasing her rating by 98 points. Final standings – Women 1 WGM Wafa, Shrook EGY 2189 8 2 WIM Nassr, Lina ALG 2029 7 3 Mohamed Zaki, Jana EGY 1891 6½ 4 WGM Wafa, Shahenda EGY 2085 6½ 5 ACM Alaa, Dema EGY 1828 5½ 6 WIM Romany, Joy EGY 1932 5½ 7 WCM Ampaire, Shakira UGA 1784 5½ 8 WIM February, Jesse Nikki RSA 2052 5 9 El Barbry, Sarah MAR 1841 5 10 WCM Bwalya Mulwale, Lubuuto ZAM 1954 5 Complete final standings – Women’s Section Photos: Egyptian Chess Federation