For the first time since its creation four years ago, AVC-AGBU Egypt’s Chess club participated in an official chess tournament organized by the Egyptian Chess Federation, through a very young promising chess player; Raphael El Masry. The championship took place from 22 to 27 June 2018 at the Eastern Company’s Club halls (ex. Matossian Company) in Giza-Omraneya.
Six years old Raphy who, in spite of his very young age, is a regular of the AVC-AGBU Chess club of Fridays. He is always present in these weekly gatherings at AGBU Cairo, and shows an unusual passion for chess since his introduction to the game a year ago. He was chosen to participate in the 2018 Egyptian National Chess Youth Championship to play in the U-8 age category.
In spite of competing against players mostly older than him, Raphy did extremely well in his first certified tournament. He ended up 12th out of 25 players in this category after playing 8 rounds of tough matches which he completed with utmost confidence. Using a chess watch and abiding by the strict laws of official chess tournaments, Raphy was able to astonish everyone with his composure and achieved results against his elders.
Two other Armenian players participated also in the U-14 year category of this Championship, namely Sassoun Guerboyan, who ended at position 22, and Nounee Torossian who came out at position 19.
The participation of three Armenian players in the Egyptian National Chess Youth Championship is a first in the history of our community and an important sign that Egyptian Armenians have started following the steps of their compatriots in Armenia in a game that we are known to excel.
It is worth mentioning that AGBU-AVC Egypt’s AVC Chess club’s mentors are Eddy Kassabian & Khachig Kassabian, assisted by Daniel Kallalian. With utmost dedication and passion, they encourage Raphy and his team mates to play and enjoy chess through these weekly gatherings, teaching them the game and its tactics with modern assistive technologies.
