Nigeria Breweries stakes N3m for chess. Where are my Chess guys

Dozens of chess players will compete for N3.39m total prize money at the 38th edition of the Nigeria Breweries International Open Chess Championship, which will hold from November 9 to 16 at the Mobolade Okoya-Thomas Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

The Nigeria Chess Federation announced this at the Lagos Brewery Bar, Iganmu, on Monday.

The Nigeria Breweries Corporate Media/Brand PR Manager, Edem Vindah, who represented the firm’s Managing Director, Nicolaas Vervelde, said they were glad to continue sponsoring the chess championship as the part of the Corporate Social Responsibility.

“For us in Nigeria Breweries, this sponsorship remains a key element of our several youth empowerment and talent development initiatives. It is a further demonstration of our dedication to being a responsible corporate citizen committed to winning with Nigeria,” he said.

The Nigeria Chess Federation Director of Media and Communications, Femi Solaja, who stood in for the president of the federation, Lekan Adeyemi, said the federation’s partnership with Nigeria Breweries has helped to make the game more popular in Nigeria.

“The unbroken 38 years of partnership with Chess in Nigeria is very commendable and has made tremendous progress towards our various efforts at the development of the sport. At the inception of this administration, Nigeria had only 28 active FIDE (World Chess Federation) rated players but now, the FIDE rated players in Nigeria are well over 150,” he said.

Solaja added that about 10 foreign players will participate in the championship, which would have six categories: Master, Open Section, Amateur Section, Ladies Open, Weekender, Under 14 Boys and Under 14-Girls.

The winner of the Masters category will go home with N1,000,000, which is the championship prize.

The second-place winner in that category will win N500,000; third N250,000; fourth N100,000; fifth N50,000; while those who come from sixth to 10th will go home with N20,000 each. from PUNCH.