Femi Solaja
27 April 2011
As corporate bodies and government agencies continue their quest to give financial support to the maiden Prof. Wole Soyinka International Chess Masters Classics, the event has received a major boost following its recognition by the World Chess Federation ((FIDE).
FIDE has listed the Soyinka tournament in its calendar for the year and this has led to several prominent Grand Masters of chess indicating their interest to participate in the weeklong event, which will come up in July this year in Abuja.
The event, according to the Chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC), Rear Admiral Jubril Ayinla (rtd), will commence on July 11 when the Nobel Laureate will be 73 years old and will end on the 17 of the same month.
The tournament will attract the biggest prize money in the continent. According to FIDE website, about $75, 000 will be won by players in the different categories of play, with the Invitational Section attracting the bigger prize fund. The Invitational Section features five Nigerians and five foreign titled players (Grand Masters and International Masters) while there will be Open Section for national male and female players to compete in.
The time control for the Nine- round Swiss event pairing will be 90 minutes for the entire game plus 30 seconds added on per move from the opening move.
International Arbiter Carol Jarecki has been appointed Chief Arbiter for the tournament; the duo of Lekan Adeyemi and Eugene Aikhiwu will bring in their years of exposure to bear as Deputy Chief Arbiters. Other Nigerian International arbiters will be in place to work them.
The tournament will serve as a preparatory platform for the country’s players who will soon be in the throes of preparations for the chess event of the All-Africa Games in Mozambique later this year. It will also be a platform for other local players to earn more ELO ratings.
Several state governors and government agencies as well as corporate organisations have shown their interests to support the tournament.
The facilitator of the event, Ayinla, recalled at the weekend how many people remember Soyinka only for his outstanding literary skills; adding that the Nobel Laureate is not a one-dimensional human at all.
“Very little is known about Soyinka’s love relationship with chess. In fact, our know now that Soyinka and chess are of kindred spirit, is thanks to recent works of the International Coordinator of the Nigeria Chess Federation, Mr. Kunle Elegbede; from his base in Houston, United States.
“The event has been instituted as part of an annual package to commemorate the life of a great Nigerian at his birthday period. The tournament will be the first big stage chess championship in Nigeria after the IBB Rapid Masters event, which took place in Abuja in 1992, with former FIDE President Late Florencio Campomannes, and some members of his executive in attendant,” he said.
Some of the literary works of Soyinka, which propelled him onto the global stage are poems like ‘Abiku’, short plays and full length novels like ‘Kongi’s Harvest’, ‘The Man Died: Prison Notes of Wole Soyinka’ and ‘The Trials of Brother Jero’.
AllAfrica – All the Time