The game of chess has a history of being played in the continent of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Its play in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

is of particular interest to chess writers and historians. The board game

senet Senet or senat (; cf. Coptic language, Coptic , 'passing, afternoon') is a board game from ancient Egypt that consists of ten or more pawns on a 30-square playing board.Crist 2019 p. 107 The earliest representation of senet is dated to 2620 BC ...

preceded chess and was favored by

Ancient Egyptian Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

royalty. Chess is thought to have first made its way to Africa through

shatranj Shatranj (, ; from Middle Persian ) is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire. Its origins lie in the South Asian game of chaturanga. Modern chess gradually developed from this game, as it was introduced to Europe by contacts in ...

. As the

Muslim conquest of Persia As part of the early Muslim conquests, which were initiated by Muhammad in 622, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Sasanian Empire between 632 and 654. This event led to the decline of Zoroastrianism, which had been the official religion of ...

occurred, the Muslims took and modified

chatrang Shatranj (, ; from Middle Persian ) is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire. Its origins lie in the South Asian game of chaturanga. Modern chess gradually developed from this game, as it was introduced to Europe by contacts in ...

, adopting it as shatraj. Shantraj is recognized as the immediate predecessor to chess. While

chess in Europe The game of chess, or rather its immediate precursor, known as ''shatranj'', was introduced to Europe from the Islamic sphere, most likely via Iberia (modern Spain), in the 9th or 10th century (possibly as early as at the beginning of the 9th cent ...

has received considerable more attention by chess historians, it is thought that the game made its way to Europe from the

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

of North Africa.

Senterej Senterej (Amharic: ሰንጠረዥ sänṭäräž), also known as Ethiopian chess, is a regional chess variant, the form of chess traditionally played in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It was the last popular survival of shatranj. According to Richard Pa ...

is another component of the history of chess in Africa as it is considered the "

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

version of chess". Having been played for over a thousand years, its popularity waned in the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1998, the

African Chess Championship The first African Chess Championship was played in 1998. Ibrahim Hasan Labib and Mohamed Tissir both shared first place with 7/10, but the former took the title. The 2007 championship was the FIDE Zone 4 qualifier for the Chess World Cup 2007 ...

began being held. The most recent edition held in 2022 saw Egyptian players dominate. Since 2003, chess has also been played at the

African Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...

A man and woman playing Chess in Uganda 2018-09-13

As a

child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

Phiona Mutesi Phiona Mutesi (born 28 March 1996) is a Ugandan chess player. She has represented Uganda at four Women's Chess Olympiads, and is one of the first titled female players in Ugandan chess history. Mutesi is the subject of a 2012 book and a 2016 fi ...

enrolled in a chess club in Katwe,

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

in 2005. Her success in chess garnered international attention, including a 2016 Disney-produced film ''

Queen of Katwe ''Queen of Katwe'' is a 2016 American biographical sports drama film directed by Mira Nair and written by William Wheeler. Starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, and Madina Nalwanga, the film depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi, a girl livi ...

''. From 2014 to 2021, the continent produced six grandmasters;

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, and

were among the countries to be represented by a grandmaster. After returning to his home slum in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in 2018, chess master

Tunde Onakoya Tunde Onakoya (born 6 October 1994) is a Nigerian chess player and Coach (sport), coach, who holds the Guinness World Records, Guinness World Record for the longest marathon chess game. As the founder and covener of Chess in Slums Africa, he has o ...

founded Chess in Slums Africa, a volunteer organization aiming to teach and coach chess to children of low-income communities. Also in 2018, James Kangaru of

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

was recognized by the

International Chess Federation The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the gove ...

(or

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

) as one of the best chess coaches and became Africa's youngest FIDE instructor.

See also

References

Further reading