World Chess Olympiad veterans, Bomo Kigigha (2317), Dapo Adu (2299) and Bunmi Olape(2252) with Oluwafemi Balogun (2275) and Anwuli Daniel (2267) have all qualified in the open section and will represent Nigeria at the forth coming 43rd World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia from 23rd September to 6th October, 2018.

Chess

According to the President of Nigerian Chess Federation (NCF), Mr. Lekan Adeyemi, their qualification was based on their respective FIDE ratings which is a clear departure from open trials. In the female section, the qualified players are; Precious Agbazue (1902), Oluwaseun Assa (1881), Chinyere Chukwuemeka-Ehirim (1871), Deborah Akintoye (1853) and Eloho Ogbiyoyo Perpetual (1830).

Interestingly, all the representatives in the female category will be making their debut at the biennial tournament, the chairman of Technical Committee of the federation, Alhaji Bode Durotoye, explained that the board was very sensitive in the selection and affirmed its decision to stick to the conventional norm, instead of an abridged selection format that will pave way for another round of mini trial that could throw up unnecessary distraction.