On 25 November 2014 it was announced it will take part in Sochi, Russia starting on 15 March 2015 and it is now referred to as the Women’s World Chess Championship 2015 (knock-out) which will be a knock-out tournament, to decide the women’s world champion. It was originally scheduled from 11 to 31 October 2014 but problems in finding a sponsor and host city eventually forced FIDE to announce the postponement of the Championship. The 2014 Women’s World Chess Championship will be played as a 64-player knockout tournament. She won the Women’s African Chess Championship in 2013 held in Tunisia and that qualified her for the 2014 Women’s World Chess Championship. Wafa was part of the Egyptian women’s team which received a category gold medal at the 2014 World Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway. Playing fellow Egyptian WCM Eman Elansary in Round 8 of the 2014 Zone 4.The win in Namibia capped a brilliant year for the Egyptian who also won the ladies category of the 2014 Africa Zone 4.2 Chess Championship held in Cairo, Egypt, with a score of 6.5 out of 7. I think, maybe, it’s our dedication to chess and because we want to do something we work very hard for it. What is it about Egyptian players-both men and women-that makes them so strong even without much support from the government? The Egyptian Chess Federation sponsors me. When you travel for tournaments, how do you fund your trips? Do you have a sponsor? I’ve won a lot of tournaments and they haven’t even honoured me in school. No, no, no, my school doesn’t care at all. It sure affects me because when I get home I’ve missed a lot of lessons so I try to study them on my own when travelling or when I get back teachers teach me in private. How does travelling for chess affect your studies? Egyptian women’s team receiving honours at the 2014 Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway We were standing on the stage and the whole world’s champions were clapping for us. It was very good and also we got a gold medal in our section. How did that feel like-representing your country in a team event? Then I travelled to Norway for the World Chess Olympiad this year. For example, I’ve been to Tunisia 3 times, South Africa 3 times, etc. I’ve travelled about 20 times but to some countries more than once. Since you started playing, how many countries have you visited to play chess? What next after WGM? What are your goals?įirst, I want to get the IM title because my furthest priority is to get GM.

WGM Shrook Wafa with World Chess Champion GM Magnus Carlsen I want to take first place in the World Youth Chess Championship next year in the under-18 category before I turn 18. I don’t feel like I’m young for my title because I’ve seen players from all over the world who are better than me and they want to play in the world championships. How do you feel about being a WGM at such a young age? There’s only one other WGM in Egypt: Mona Khaled (2125). I took first place and the first place automatically gets the Woman Grand Master title. I got it last year in the African Individual Chess Championships in Tunisia. How did that happen? How many other WGMs are there in Egypt?

I’m the only one in my town who has introduced people to chess and now they know that this is something: it’s a sport, we play leagues for it, we travel, we thought it was like dominoes and things like this. Compared to other sports, it has no popularity.

No, no, no, chess is mainly not very famous in Egypt. What is the name of the town where you live? Do you have lots of people playing chess there? Not sisters on the board: WIM Shahenda Wafa vs WGM Shrook Wafa at the Zone 4.2 Championships The manager of the club played with me and he saw that I could play in the team so I started training since then and I went to the first Egyptian Youth Championship and took first place in the Under-12 Girls category. My father used to play with us and he taught me and my sisters but we weren’t very interested in chess until someday the club near to us needed a young player for the under-12 team and they had no one so they had to ask my father because he was the one who created the club in the first place. When did you start playing chess? What got you interested in the game? 17 year-old Woman Grand Master Shrook Wafa of Egypt During a break between rounds, I caught up with her to discuss her many achievements in just 5 years of playing chess competitively, challenges facing chess in Egypt and her future ambitions. WGM Shrook Wafa is Egypt’s second-highest rated (2061) female player and winner of the 2014 Africa Zone 4.2 Individual Chess Championships (women’s section) held in Cairo.

Shrook shrook