Golden Cleopatra is an international chess championship, founded by Eastern Company in 1997. Unfortunately, the company stopped organising and sponsoring the championship 13 years ago. In an attempt to shine the spotlight on an often overlooked sport in Egypt, the company resumed the competition in December. The tournament ran from 13-21 December, and was presided over by Hesham El-Gendy, president of the Egyptian Chess federation. Mohamed Osman Haroun, head of the Eastern Company's board of directors, was pleased with the tournament. "After the success Golden Cleopatra International Chess Championship 2016 has witnessed, Eastern Company is looking to organise and sponsor the championship on an annual basis," he said. Around 400 players participated from around ten countries, including Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Russia, and Palestine. The championship was divided into seven categories; however, the most prestigious category was the open competition. Maher Hemdan won the over 50's category, while Magdy Louis was the runner-up. Eid Abdel Nanby won the over 60's competition, and Aly Yassin came in the second place. Hany Ismail won the unranked championship, and Emad Ibrahim took second place. Ahmed Kandil won the under 12's competition, and Youssef Khaled was the runner-up. Adham Fawzy won the under 16's category, while Adham Kandil placed second. Eman El-Ansary won the woman's competition, while Yara Allam was the runner-up. First place of the open competition was won by Bulgarian Kiril Georgiev, Russian-born Oleg Korneev won second place, beating out Azerbaijan's Azer Mirzoev and Egypt's Abdel Rahman Hesham at third and fourth respectively.
