PWC-Lagos Chess4Change Grand Slam Debuts
The maiden edition of the Lagos State Chess Association (LSCA) Chess4Change Grand Slam event sponsored by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) holds today at the Kings College, Adeyemo Alakija on Victoria Island, Lagos.
Chairman of LSCA, Fela Bank-Olemoh, announced that the event targeted at secondary schools in the state will hold over three days ending on May 15th and explained that the partnership with the foremost accounting firm began last year with enlightenment campaign aimed at generating interest in the sport amongst students of secondary school age.
“We began this programme with series of events such as the Chess Tutorials that had seasoned chess coaches teaching the students the basics of the moves and rules of chess. We also had the mentorship programme during which representatives of PWC also interacting with the students discussing issues that affects young persons of their age group and there was the Mini Chess Challenge that was organised to put them in tournament mood,” Fela explained.
He said the LSCA came up with the Chess4Change event as a deliberate drive to inculcate in the persons of school age the attributes of strategic thinking and to sharpen their capacity for mental reasoning.
The Grand Slam will be played on a round-rubbing format where each player gets to play every other contestant in a round with two rounds played by each today and tomorrow while there will be a single round on Friday. Points will be awarded based on player’s performance in each game.
Participants have been drawn from Holy Child College, Ikoyi, Government College, Victoria Island and Kuramo Senior Secondary Schol, Victoria Island. The others are Falomo Senior Secondary School, Ikoyi, Akande Dahunsi Senior Secondary School, Ikoyi and Kings College, Ikoyi. ensure the specified number of doping tests is carried out after the race while in the area of prize money, the gender equality rule is also followed such that what the male winner earns is also what the opposite sex will get,” explained Ali.
The former national and African long jump champion also revealed that the granting of the bronze label status to the race means world and area records set in Okpekpe will be recognised by the IAAF’
Ali has also revealed that the race course which starts from Apama Road and ends in Okpekpe will be closed to vehicular traffic.
The Okpekpe 10km road race is organised by Pamodzi Sports Marketing, a leader in sports marketing, sponsorship, hospitality and rights acquisition business in Nigeria in conjunction with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and Edo State Government.
The race is run over hills and sandy path and it starts in Apama road and ends in Okpekpe, a town in Etsakor East Local Government Area of Edo State. It is located about 25 km North East of Auchi.