'Brotherhood'

"As you can see, most of the different ethnicities, different tribes, are here playing chess. We become a brotherhood and we establish respect between ourselves," Legge added.

His opponent Costa, who learned to play as a teenager, is a student of Applied Sciences at the University of Juba and dreams of making it to the Chess Olympiad one day.

"Chess brings people together and that is why I love it. If things go well, chess will be the second most popular game in South Sudan after football."

South Sudan's chess association was co-founded by Jada Albert Modi in 2009, two years before independence.

It became a fully fledged member of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) in 2016 in Baku, Azerbaijan, which hosted the first Olympiad attended by the country's players.

"It was quite a shock. For some of our players, it was the first time they were traveling out of the country," Modi told AFP.

The South Sudanese came second in their group, but two years later they won, beating 45 others.

"That was the first gold medal for South Sudan in any sport," said Modi.

FIDE ranks South Sudan 126th out of 185 countries and regions. Egypt tops the African nations at No 47.