ED -
First, my
apologies for not bringing you any news concerning the on-going All African
Games Chess event. This is due partly to the Editor's (My) laziness and the
general difficulty in getting information concerning the event. A media blackout
of sorts.
The following are excerpts from a mail sent by our favorite
chess events organizer,
Rotimi Dasaolu to members of Nigeria's 'teeming'
chess public. It contains a brief round up of the results as at yesterday,
Monday 16th and an update on chess in Naija this year.
We at ChessHeights
hope to bring to you more reports (with pictures!) from the event as they are
made available to us.
AAG : Results so far
Nigeria is being represented at the all african games in chess by both male and female representatives.
The male team has Babatunde Omotosho, Dapo Adu, Odion Aikhoje, Adebayo Adegboyega, Bunmi Olape and Kolade Onabogun.
The female team comprises Pauline Ikpa, Lola Alabi,Funmi Oyegunle, Doris Omaragbon,Rosemary Amadasun and Tobi Olatunji.
There are 13 teams in the male section and it is a single round robin event .
Here are results from on the event so far.
Round
1
Kenya
1 Zambia
3; Ethiopia
0 Egypt
4; Mozambique
0 Algeria
4; Libya
0 South Africa
4; Nigeria
3 Zimbabwe
1;Namibia
0.5 Angola
3.5 Sao tome -
Bye
Round 2
Sao tome
1.5
Kenya 2.5; Ethiopia
2 Zambia 2 ; Mozambique
0.5 Egypt
3.5 ; Libya
1.5 Algeria
2.5 ; Nigeria
1.5 South Africa
2.5;
Namibia
0 Zimbabwe
4 Angola -
Bye
Round 3
Sao tome
1
Ethiopia 3 ; Mozambique
1
Zambia 3 ; Libya
0 Egypt
4; Nigeria
1.5 Algeria
2.5 ; Namibia
0 South
Africa 4 ; Angola
1.5
Zimbabwe 2.5
Kenya on bye
Round 4
Sao tome
1
Mozambique 3; Kenya
2 Ethiopia
2; Libya
0 Zambia
4; Nigeria
1 Egypt
3;
Namibia
0.5 Algeria
3.5; Angola
1.5 South Africa
2.5
Zimbabwe -
Bye
Round 5
Sao tome
0
Libya 4; Kenya
2
Mozambique 2; Nigeria
3
Zambia 1; Namibia
0 Egypt
4; Angola
2 Algeria
2; Zimbabwe 2 South Africa
2; Ethiopia -
Bye
Round 6 was played yesterday (Sunday 15th) and Nigeria defeated Sao tome 4-0 while Egypt defeated Angola 3-1.South africa was on bye. My source in Agiers,Fola Akintola, who incidentally is the Chief Coach of the Nigerian team, could not furnish me with anymore results as regards round 6. Today (Monday 16th) is a free day.
Well to those who have partaken or is partook (abeg 4give my oyinbo !) in team events, you all know it is all about medals. The more gold the better (at least from the Naija point of view).
Round 1 had Odion on board 1,Draw, Adegboyega on board 2,draw, Olape on board 3 win and Onabogun on board 4 win. Apparently this has had a big influence on how subsequent the teams have been picked. If u have a 100% you are treated like a king (or is it golden hen?) and if u have dropped as little as half a point u are deemed as expendable as u have 'collected' an injury!
In round 2 we lost to South Africa with Tosh on top board,Adu on 2nd board, Odion on board 3 and little Bee on board 4.I am not entirely sure of the breakdown but i believe 3 games were drawn with Odion losing.
In round 3 the same board order but not sure again of the breakdown however Odion won.
In round 4 same board order with Nigeria drawing on boards 3 and 4.
Round 5 same board order with Tosh losing on top board.
Round 6 the "golden hens" (or
should i deem them masquerades?) came out to play of course and
duly won.
After talking to Fola earlier today the strategy is
obvious , Nigeria is banking on picking up gold
medals on boards 5 and
6
in the male event. On paper, Egypt should be the
strongest team followed arguably by either
South
Africa and/or
Algeria with
Naija and
Angola not far from either one of
them. We could actually put up a fight for the team silver but this runs
contrary to our objective of participating in the event. If I were coach of the
team I will most likely toe Fola's line but as a Nigerian chess player i want us
fight for a team medal.
Well u cant have your cake and eat it!.
I cant really comment much on the female team as the same
strategy is in play there, we have only one player (to the best of my knowledge)
on a 100%. Tobi, Rosemary and
Lola haven't know how
Pauline is faring except that she won her game in our
1.5 -2.5 loss to South Africa.
I believed, before the
tournament that we had a very good chance to fight for team gold in the female
category ( only 6 teams are participating) but.... u all know the
story!!
Next issue I want to make mention of is chess in Nigeria.
Naija Chess : .... an update.
Not much to write about here I am afraid to say. There was no national competition in Nigeria last year and there does not seem to be any on the horizon for this year either. It is a big pity but well what can I say? Nigerian Breweries Championships ran for 30 years and the last edition was held in 2005.
Presently I organize a monthly
Friends of Chess
tournament, ( which we all love and look forward to
eagerly) a one day rapidplay event and sponsored by chess players like me
and you. In the process one of the sponsors has offered to sponsor a solely
blitz event in September and another person has offered to sponsor a whole event
later in the year (u know who u are o!. We are counting on you!). I want to
use this medium to say a big thank you to the sponsors of this monthly event
they are; Acp Sani Mohammed (Ncf Chairman), Mr Theophilus
Caiafas, Navy Commander Musa,Dr Olusegun Olomola, Messrs Robert Asibor, Malaki
Abulu, Patrison Chukwuebuni, Kabiru Bello, Gbenga Ogunshola,Chris
Omolabi, Tokunbo Adebesin, Nnamdi Nwoye, Femi George (Who is getting married on
the 18th of August!!), Emmanuel Omuku, Dapo Apara,Wale Adelaja, Damola Adesina and
Sam Agili. They all have contributed to the monthly
F O C and I am very grateful to them all. If anyone wants
more info on the event just get in contact with me and I am willing to send
reports and photographs to those who might be interested in seeing them. There
is a Nigerian chess site that covers the event but unfortunately I don't know the
web address off the top of my head (ED - Thank you very much
for the introduction Dashe, the name of the site is
CHESSHEIGHTS.COM and consider our coverage of your event
cancelled. Just kidding!) but I hope to send it in my updates on the All
African Games.
I hope to organize a national friends of chess during
Easter next year and as
such this is a pump/appeal to regular contributors and those that don't!. I
am yet to draw up the budget for it but I will do so in the next few weeks
and let u all know. I have to say however that
Mr Dotun
Isiaka has already given me 25,000 naira for the
event, I don chop am
o, forget!!), mr Bimbo Adelaja promised 300 pounds (I
hope this still holds true?) , Mr Bola Dada pledged
50 pounds and Mr Dave Okike promised 150 pounds. All
this was as at last year so maybe there will be an increase in the pledges, heh
heh.
I hope I receive mail from quite a lot of u, then I will know that there is
hope and if not, no wahala, life goes on!
Cheers
everyone!
Rotimi Dasaolu