Chief wins Africa U-9 Chess Championship for Ghana

An 8-year-old pupil, Dave Chief Quansah Acheampong of the Jack and Jill School has won gold in the Africa Under-9 Chess Champion in the just ended African Schools Individual Chess Championship 2020.

This year’s African Chess Confederation contest was hosted online as a result of the COVID-19.

The five-day tournament saw 105 players from countries in the continent including Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, South Africa, Egypt, Angola, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Morocco competing in different age categories: Under 9 years, Under 11 years, Under 13, Under 15 and Under 17 years.

Dave, who is currently Ghana’s Under-8 champion started the tournament with a win in the 1st round and suffered three losses in subsequent rounds and that would make many junior chess players lose hope and forfeit a tournament, however, the young boy showed great fighting spirit and came back to win every game in the remaining 5 rounds of the tournament to be crowned champion.

He finished with six points out of nine to grasp first place prize ahead of top favourites. Mohammed Hossam Adham from Egypt and Ranveer Tak from South Africa.

The success chalked came as a surprise to many in the Ghana Chess Association, even though Dave is believed to be a promising and talented young player, it was still hard to believe this incredible feat.

This is the first time a Ghanaian chess player has conquered all of Africa.

After the award ceremony, Mr. David Acheampong, the father of the gold medalist and also, the founder of Mentors Chess Academy said he introduced his son to chess at age four and since shown love for the game.

He described his son as an asset for the country saying “Dave has won some local competitions and this is the biggest prize so far won.”

He hopes this achievement would inspire more children to take interest in learning chess as it helps enhance problem-solving and analytical skills.

For his prize as the continental champion, Dave Chief Quansah Acheampong gets a roundtrip economy class air ticket by the African Chess Confederation to represent Africa in the World Schools Individual Chess Championships to be held in Halkidiki, Greece between May 2-11, 2021, where he would contest with winners from other continents.

The eight-year-old champion has set sights on becoming a chess grandmaster in the near future and it has become imperative for the young prodigy to maintain his consistency in his chess hobby and therefore will need all the support going forward.