Lagos Chess Classic 2014 begins

Hello chess blog friends, there is a chess tournament in Lagos coming up with titled players from India and Egypt, apart from several other international players, taking part. This is going to be the second edition of the Lagos International Chess Classic 2014.

The tournament will be hosted at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium and is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Grandmaster Sriram Jha of India, International master duo of Hesham Abdelrahman and Ezat Mouhamed of Egypt and FIDE Master, Degondo Simplice Armel, and his compatriots from Cote d’Ivoire, Lobognon Anderson Oliver and Manan Yoboue Hermann will be in Lagos for the four-day chess tournament.

Others expected include, Ghana’s duo of Jamena Joseph Mensah and Anquandah Francis Eric as well as Kenyan national champion, Magana Ben. The prize money for this year’s tournament is $22,000 while players will compete for honours in three categories while the star prize is $6,000.

The Nigerians include International Master, Odion Aikhoje, and a gold medalist at the Elista Olympiad in 1998, while 2012 zonal champion, international master, Bunmi Olape, will also be part of the party. United States-based Dapo Adu will also be part of the championship. According to Tournament Director, Bayo Babalola, this year’s Section B was introduced to cater for lower rated players that may want to play those on their level or those slightly higher as the might not be able to play in the tougher International Open categories.

“We have more foreign players this year and this goes to show that the tournament is growing each year and it is getting attention from international players while the star prize in the Open Section was increased to $6,000 against $5,000 for last year. We are expecting over 150 participants in this year’s edition,” he said.

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