ZIMBABWE’s push for continental chess glory has taken on a bold new face after girls made up more than half of the country’s squad that departed for the 2026 African Youth Chess Championships (AYCC) in Entebbe, Uganda, on Thursday.
Of the 24 players travelling to the continental competition, 13 are girls, a development the Zimbabwe Chess Federation (ZCF) believes reflects a growing emphasis on inclusivity and grassroots development.
The tournament, running from May 14 to 23, will bring together some of Africa’s brightest junior players in the Under 8 to Under 18 categories.
The 24-member Zimbabwean squad, led by head of delegation Benson Magomo, flew out of Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, carrying hopes of improving on last year’s campaign, when Zimbabwe hosted the AYCC at Dominican Convent and secured a solitary silver medal.
Magomo said the federation was deliberately investing in youth development as the cornerstone of Zimbabwe’s future success in international chess.
“As Team Zimbabwe, we are going to ride from the last edition of the AYCC that we did here in Zimbabwe at Dominican Convent,” Magomo said.
“As you all know, we had a silver medal last year. We are going to be building our teams based upon that success and we hope that we are going to bring more medals and more success.”
At the team send-off, ZCF president Todd Mapingire said the country’s junior players had continued to mature competitively since the last continental event.
“In the previous tournament that we hosted in December, we were hoping that they would bring us more medals to Zimbabwe and put Zimbabwe’s name on the international scene,” Mapingire said.
“We have got the likes of Alan, who actually won silver in the last tournament, which was held in Kenya. We have also got Nota, who is also among the team players. We have actually got quite a number of players who are now outstanding in terms of chess. So we are hopeful that this time around we can actually produce more medals than before.”
Unlike the largely inexperienced side that competed on home soil last year, many players heading to Uganda now carry valuable tournament exposure gathered through national competitions, coaching clinics and school championships.
Magomo believes that the development cycle could prove decisive against traditional African powerhouses.
“What has changed was, if you look at that Africa Youth Chess Championship at Dominican Convent, many of our players that we had, they were novices, they were coming in for the first time,” Magomo added.
“Now, with the time that we had from December up until now, we had tournaments, we had coaching clinics that we had. Recently, schools held the Crystal Candy chess championships. So that was giving at least experience and more tournament exposure to our players.
“And now, as I said, our players, they are now more ready than we were last year.”
Zimbabwe’s long-term vision stretches beyond medals alone. The federation has intensified efforts to spread chess into rural and marginalised communities through the Chess to Kumusha initiative, which seeks to introduce the game in schools across the country.
Magomo argued that chess remains one of the most sustainable and affordable sporting disciplines for schools because of its low equipment costs and long-term accessibility.
“As Zimbabwe Chess Federation, we are looking at the youth as our centre of development because if you look at the nations that are doing well in chess, we look at India, they are putting more of their resources and more of their energies in the youth,” he said.
“We need to develop our chess from the grassroots.”
The federation also acknowledged support from key stakeholders including the Ministry of Sport, the Sports and Recreation Commission, sponsors Minerva and WestProp as well as schools that assisted travelling players.
Zimbabwe will now hope its investment in grassroots chess and youth development begins yielding tangible continental rewards in Uganda.
