How I Enjoyed A Chess Tournament Without Playing!

Hello everyone,

It's been a tough new month already! With the crypto market looking bad and our economy falling every day, There are few things to be excited about. However, the just-concluded U-20 Danhypro-toco Chess championships in my country brought a lot of joy to the faces of many children. I have been a player in almost every tournament I attended, but for the first time, I was at the event participating in a different role.

Oh No! I wasn't Arbitrating the Event!

I was part of a 5-man Appeal committee. It was such an honour to be given that role. As the main sponsors that are part of the committee were not available physically, I was the go-to guy if an appeal was to be written.

Okay, that's my name the arrow was pointed at.

How Did I Fare?

Considering it was my first time, I didn't fare badly. I spent most of the time watching and enjoying good chess games. There was only one incident I had to attend to, but it was settled very fast.

Yes! The juniors are the future Grandmasters. However, for Nigeria, we've struggled to get that right. 7 years ago, I said it on live television on the back of a famous junior tournament victory that I hope to be the first Nigerian Grandmaster, but look at me now. I'm not even interested in playing again.

The good news is some individuals like Danhypro and IM toco are using tournaments like this to change the narratives. They also sponsors this kids to tournaments within Africa. Thanks to them, we have the youngest IM in west Africa.

_{19 years Old IM Isaac Okeke, The youngest IM in West Africa Receives his Award from Prince Adewole Adeyinka, The Vice-President of the Nigeria Chess federation}

The tournament had over 100+ participants. Alot of exciting games were played. Here is one interesting game played.

[Event "Dahnypro U20 Championship"]
[Site "Lagos"]
[Date "2022.06.09"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Okemakinde Toluwanimi R"]
[Black "Sulaiman Aisha"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[Source "Analyze This App"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Nf6 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. Bd2 
Nde7 9. Nb5 a6 10. Bxb4 axb5 11. Bd2 Qb6 12. Be3 Nd5 13. Bd3 Ncb4 14. Bb1 Nxe3 
15. fxe3 d5 16. O-O h6 17. Ne1 Bd7 18. Qh5 O-O 19. Rf3 Qd8 20. Rg3 Kh8 21. Qg4 
Rg8 22. Qf4 Qe7 23. Rh3 Rgc8 24. Rxh6+ Kg8 25. Qg4 Rc1 26. Rh8+ 1-0

White to Play And win!

In Conclusion...

I missed the Hivechess by @stayoutoftherz because I participated in this tournament. Well, I'm off the top spot in all tournaments this season. I would keep playing and hopefully, I could stop slowing some people down.

Thanks For Reading!

_{Images were taken by DapshotIt. Please feel free to contact him for your events if you base in Lagos state.}