Osunfuyi Wins Pro-chess Championship

One of the emerging stars in Nigerian chess scene, Abimbola Osunfuyi, was the hero of the night at the just concluded Pro-chess quarterly championship held in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The prodigy, fondly referred to as ‘Young Grand Master’ secured a perfect score of five points in the poll of 120 players to win the top prize of N50, 000 and a trophy.

“It was a dream come true for me that I won this tournament because it is my wish to return to the summit of chess in Nigeria. My victory today is a stepping stone to greater things that will come my way in the next few years,” the calm winner remarked at the closing ceremony.

The duo of Odafe Benedict and Tolulope Ogunwobi were joint second with 4.5 points and took home N30, 000 and N20, 000 respectively.

While Mutiu Salawu, Seye Oluwalasinu, Udeme Edet, Candidate Master Femi Balogun, Eugene Unwana and Tunde Onakoya were joint fourth with four points each and won N5, 8000 each for their efforts.

Daniel Anwuli with 3.5 points placed 10th to take home N5, 000.

Consolation prizes of chess sets were given out to players within 11th-20th positions.

Expectedly, in the ladies section, the current national female champion, Omolabake Coker, finished at the top with three points and won a cash prize of N10, 000 for her effort.

There was a four-way tie for the second position with Doris Adebayo, Tumininu Oyewole, Omolola Sadiku and Ganiya Jimoh all with two points each getting N1, 250 for their efforts.

Toyosi Bakare emerged tops with 4.5 points in the U-14 category and was given a trophy and standard chess set while Emmanuel Akintoye was runner up and won a chess set for his effort.

In his remark, the sponsor and President of Nigeria Chess Federation (NCF), Mr. Lekan Adeyemi, advised chess players to take advantage of numerous tournaments available on the calendar to improve their ratings.

“This event will come up every three months and its FIDE rated just like the numerous tournaments that are spread across the calendar now.

“It will be a good thing for the players to take advantage of the situation and improve their skills and at same time better their ratings. Invite your friends and let’s have a hall filled with over 2,000 players all engaged in our cerebral sport,” he remarked.