Three Oyo state athletes — Abiola Akinseye, Onoja Iyefu Joy and Femi Balogun have arrived Chennai, India as part of Nigerian representatives at the 44th World Chess Olympiad 2022, starting Thursday 28th July to 10th August, 2022.
The Nigerian team led by the President of the Federation, DIG Sani Mohammed (rtd), included five male and five female players who made the squad after the trial event held in Abuja last month, and qualified to play at the 11-round Swiss event pairing in the Asia nation.
The open section players are the Nigeria’s most rated player Adebayo Adegboyega, (Fide Master) Kigigha Bomo (Fide Master) Akinseye Abiola (Fide Master) and two International masters in person of 20-year-old Issac OKeke and Balogun Oluwafemi .
The female team include; Ofowino Toritsemuwa, Enomah Emmanuella Trust, Onoja Iyefu Joy, Suleiman Azumi Ayisha and Ogbiyoyo Perpetual Eloho (WFM).
The World Chess Olympiad organised by the Federation Internationale Des Echecs (FIDE) will involve 187 countries out of which 188 teams are in open session and 162 in the women’s category.
This will be the first Chess Olympiad to take place in India.
It was officially announced on March 16th, 2022 that the host city for the 44th edition of Chess OLYMPIAD will hold in Chennai, India.
Meanwhile, the next edition of the Chess OLYMPIAD is scheduled to hold in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary in 2024.