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On the 2nd
day of this year, whilst many were busy gorging themselves with various
festivities; Chess Heights, Ultimate Chess and a band of gladiators of
the royal game converged at 6 Adeniyi Jakande Close, off Adeniran
Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, Lagos.
On the 2nd
of January, 9.00 am the usually busy Adeniran Ogusanya Street is
practically empty.
This was the
maiden edition of the newly formed monthly classical chess tournament
tagged Chess Heights Monthly. It is to take place on the 1st
Saturday of every month and only for that day. The event is by necessity
3 rounds.
On this particular
occasion, the event was scheduled to start at 10:00 am and the
organizers were on ground much earlier. Of note to the success of the
event were the efforts of Paul Boyo who took up the Herculean
responsibility of making sure there was a board and clock for each
participant of the event. His performance as the chief arbiter was
appreciated by all. Charles Udor of Ultimate Chess also deserves a lot
of thanks for his generosity and commitment to the cause.
Paul
Boyo in blue shirt and Charles Udor in black were key to the success of
the event.
After all is said
and done, the real story of the tournament is the battle of the
gladiators, the chess players themselves. Of the lot, the first to
arrive at the venue was Stanley Ibeme, a student of UNN and an alumnus
of St. Finbarrs College where he learnt the game under Boyo’s tutelage.
The last to arrive in ‘regulation time’ (i.e. before the tournament
kicked off) was the most feared of the bunch, Bunmi Olape a.k.a. the
Undertaker. All in all, we ended up having a twelve players tournament.
Stanley Ibeme arrived
early for the games.
Abejide Ayodele was also on time. He is the founder of the facebook
group Nigeria Chess Players Association.
Giwa Oladotun in
action.
Steve Edu In action.
Steven Momentum
Bunmi Olape, a Nigerian chess legend.
Toyin Jegede, a true chess talent.
Ope
Adejo arrived last.
John Ojo drew his first game.
Demola Sorungbe the skeptic.
Paul Boyo was player and organizer.
Tolulope Ogunwobi (my humble self) was player and
organizer.
In round one the
pairings, which was drawn up giving all players the same rating, threw
two heavy weights together i.e. Bunmi Olape vs Toyin Jegede. Bunmi
gained the opening advantage against Toyin’s Sicilian Pelikan. In the 17th
move he played 17. f4 which was a novelty in the line according
to my database and Toyin’s 17. … f6 reply was too tame.
Subsequently, Bunmi was not able to find any killer move which would
immediately end any further resistance and his pawn sacrifice on move 42
only led to a forced draw.
Two other games
were drawn. The games: Giwa Oladotun vs Stanley Ibeme and John Ojo vs
Ope Adejo. In Giwa vs Stanley, the game was a seesaw experience.
Initially, black had the advantage by being up several pawns and a
strong central presence but he carelessly allowed counter play on his
King thereby giving Giwa a winning game only for Giwa to fall into
stalemate when attacking the lone king. The joy on Stanley’s face only
mirrored the pain of Giwa.
There were 3 other
games that were all won. Sorungbe and Boyo won as black against Edu and
Abejide respectively, while Ogunwobi refuted Steven Momentum’s Najdorf
Sicilian.
Click here to
view round 1 games.
At the end of
round 1, the fate of the tournament was very unclear. 2 top players had
½ point and 3 others had full points. Due to the event being a 3 round
event, it was doubtful if Bunmi could win the event by winning his
remaining game so favorites to be champion were top master players
Demola Sorungbe and Tolu Ogunwobi, if only the pairing does not cross
them unfavorably. Here is what happened in round 2.
The most notable
feature of round 2 was that all games were won and no draws were
recorded. On board 1, in the battle of organizers, Ogunwobi promptly
dispatched Boyo’s Alapin by sacrificing a bishop for a mating attack. I
encourage you to go through that game as it is visually pleasing.
As black, Demola
Sorungbe’s Sicilian was too deep for Ibeme Stanley and he had to resign
on move 32. It was another fine game that this event is being noted
for. Jegede with ease used the stone wall to immolate Giwa’s hopes and
Olape with flash and dash briskly terminated Ope Adejo. Ojo defeated Edu
and Bejide defeated Momentum for a holds no prisoner round at the Chess
Heights Monthly.
Click here to
view round 2 games.
There was all to
play for in round 3. It was possible that 4 people could tie for 1st
or we could have just a sole winner, so the key game of the round was
Sorungbe vs Ogunwobi, 2 players on perfect score. I essayed the dragon
against Sorungbe’s e4 and was surprised by a novelty at move 9. Fatigue
and the strangeness of the position combined to make me play a series of
weak moves culminating in a loss of piece at move 34 and with that the
game. This loss immediately made Sorungbe the events first ever winner.
Olape and Jegede also won their games thereby coming 2nd and
3rd respectively. The remaining games were won by Bejide (who
got a prize as 5th), Ope and Momentum.
This event was a
great success and we look forward to the next one on February 7th.
See you there.
Click here to
view round 3 games.
Here is a
feast of pictures
Adeniran
Ogunsanya Street.
The last meters
to the venue; 6 Adeniyi Jakande Close.
Wetin I go do
wey go pain am?
Stanley Ibeme
studies at University of Nigeria, Nsukka
In the tradition
of Nigerian chess players, Bejide and Stanley waited for the games to
begin by playing blitz.
A cross-sectional view of the 1st Chess Heights
Monthly crowd.
Giwa Oladotun vs Stanley Ibeme. It ended in
stalemate.
Several interesting games were played in this
edition.
Gentleman Steve Edu plans to do better in the
next edition.
Steven Momentum is a Barcelona FC fan and Sicilian player.
Demola Sorungbe was champion at this event.
Dapo Odugbesan was a spectator at this edition.
Veteran player, Tunde Oladejo came calling.
Newly married Rahman Agusto also visited us. |
