There were 13 teams taking part in the four board round-robin tournament as chess were part of the All-Africa Games for the second time in its 40-year old history. Egypt had six titled players at their disposal (Elo 2504) to be sure of defending 2003 gold, while Algeria (led by IM Sebih) and South Africa (IM Kobese) were main contenders in a run for silver and bronze medals. The only major African side missing were Tunisia, despite close vicinity.

As expected, Egypt proved way too strong for the rest of the field. South Africa moved to second half of a point ahead of Zambia after excellent final spurt. The Zambians comfortably outplayed Nigeria to take third spot. The 'board-stacking' system (better players put at lower boards) has been gaining popularity those years but it was not enough this time for the Nigerians. Algeria only finished in sixth (despite IM Haddouche taking individual gold at board #4 and IM Belouadah scoring excellent 7/8).

The men's individual blitz championship was taken by GM Ahmed Adley (Egypt), ahead of his fellow-man GM Amin Bassem and IM Watu Kobese of RSA.