With seven points out of a possible nine, the prize was well earned by the winner of the classic category of the 2016 Africa Individual Chess Championship, held at Tick Hotel in Kampala.

Egypt’s International Master (IM) Hesham Abdelrahman, who has now become a grandmaster (GM) after winning the event, drew with South Africa’s Daniel Cawdery (2412) in the ninth round.

In second and third position were GM Shoker Samy and Classic Category winner, Abdelrahman on 7.5 and 6.5 points.

Abdelrahman beat Uganda’s Farouk Fauza, Kenya’s Ben Magana, Angola’s Soares Erickson Roberto, Uganda’s Arthur Ssegwanyi, Algeria’s Arab Adlane and Zambia’s Andrew Kayonde. He drew with Algeria’s Oussedik Mahfoud (2299), and lost to GM Adley Ahmed.

The ladies category was won by Egypt’s WGM Wafa Shrook with seven points, tying with WFM Elnsary Eman who attained the title of Woman International Master (WIM).

East Africa’s best performer in the ladies category was Kenya’s Joyce Nyaruai with four points. Uganda’s Woman FIDE Master (WFM) Christine Namaganda finished in seventeenth position with 3.5 points.

The event ran from July 16 to 26. Early pacesetter Zambia’s IM Andrew Kayonde defeated two grandmasters, then lost to Abdelrahman in the eigth round.

Rajab Kamoga (2087) ended the event with 4.5 points out of a possible nine, an impressive 50 per cent score in his debut competition. It gives him a rating addition of seven points to his current rating.

Uganda’s best performer IM Arthur Ssegwanyi lost to Egypt’s GM Adley Ahmed in the last round. He finished in ninth position.

FM Harold Wanyama, who had a slow start beat Algeria’s FM Christiano Aguair (2219) in the last round, to get to five points.

Simon Gonza drew with Kenya’s Martin Njoroge in the last round to finish with 4 points.

The event attracted the biggest cash prize in Uganda’s chess history totalling $18,900.