Chess players
Chess whiz kids from Queens College Yaba, Lagos and their counterparts from Edo State Sports Council proved to the best among hundreds of young participants at the just concluded National Under-16 Chess tournament.
The Three-Day tournament, which was sponsored by the National Sports Commission and organised by the Nigeria Chess Federation (NCF), had the two institutions emerging tops in team classification in both the male and female categories.
The contingent from Edo State, with a collection of students from several schools, were clear firsts in the Under-16 male category, with 11 points. Dew School Lagos won silver with 10 points and Belina School also from Lagos placed third with nine points in the seven round Swiss-event pairing.
In the female section, it was clear domination from Queens' College whose two teams were tied to the first position, with team A getting adjudged champions with11.5 points after the application of the Sonnenborg-Berger tie breaker rules. The Dew School won bronze in that category with 10.5 points.
In some of the results on individual board positions, Nebechi Chukwudum, from Belina College, Akoka, Lagos won gold medal on board one in the Under-16 Boys category while Joshua Afengbai from Chrisland College Lagos and Paul Adara from The Dew School won silver and bronze respectively.
Yetunde Jimoh from The Dew School, Isabella from Queens College and Sharon Anakweze all won gold medals on Board Two to Four.
In his closing remarks, Mr. Lekan Adeyemi, who represented the Nigerian Chess Federation President, DCP Sani Mohamed, urged all the students to transform the knowledge they gained from participation in the tournament into their respective academic endeavour and conduct in public life.
He said: “Chess players are noted for their discipline and brilliancy in their chosen disciplines and there is the need for all of you to be very positive in your academic learning and not just play this game for the fun of wining prizes alone but also as a means of transforming yourselves in order to become good leaders of tomorrow.”
Over 180 boys and girls from various schools took part in the annual event.