Simultaneous chess between Boris Spassky, former world champion, and 20 players recruited between authors, volunteers and representatives of the sponsors supporters of the festival. @Festivalettaratura
Wole Soyinka: One of the writers @Festivalettaratura
Spassky signing authographs @Festivalettarutura.Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka is currently looking into the Odions gold medal problem. He has been in touch with the Minister of Sports, Gimba and Caifas on this issue already. To quote Prof Soyinka, "Odion won his gold medal and he should have it".
Details will be made available as soon as we have more information on this.
Meanwhile, here is an interesting story on Soyinka that is not known to many chess players:
By far, Odion is one of the most colorful of all the Nigerian Chess Players and the most entertaining. One international Chess commentator once referred to him as the "Young Casius Clay of chess" for his constant chatter while playing speed chess which is called blitz’s. Odion, with his fast thinking ability, often jokes that his opponents seem to like "to loose to him" which is the reason he often wins. This is very modest of him to say the least. Of course, everyone knows how talented Odion is with his far reaching tactical insight which often leaves his opponents gasping for air after the game is over so quickly.
http://www.thechessdrum.net/newsbriefs/2001/NB_Aikhoje.html
Picture is compliment of the Chess drum.
ODIONS GOLD MEDAL SAGA : http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/?p=191
Kamsky 2752 won his first game against Onyekwere 2267. Kamsky is rated no 19 in the World and No 1 player in the US.
Chester Bean (1888) GRAPHICAL CHESS DIAGRAM OF THE GAME FROM CHESSBASE:http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1457206
FOXWOOD REPORT
1. Dr Okey Iwu: Dr Okey Iwu with a 2175 rating drew 6 of his games, had 1 win and 1 loss. Any Chess player will tell you this is a remarkable record especially when most of his opponents were higher rated players ( FM Todd Andrews 2360 and James Critelli 2348). He also drew against Charles Riordan 2350 and Eugene Yanayt 2356 among others. His only loss was to Fide Master Daniel Rensch 2448 rating. This results goes to confirm once and for all that Iwu who was a Junior Chess Champion in Nigeria in the 90s is a stronger player who should be in the 2300 category rating and not the 2175 he is now. Watch how Iwus ratings will improve dramatically as a result of this event.
2. Chikwere Onyekwere: Nigerian Champion 21 year old Chikwere Onyekwere, 2267 rating who lost the match in Houston to Nigerian International Master Adu last week also proved himself worthy at this event. Chikwere won 4 games, had 2 draws and 3 losses. Three of his losses were against some of the highest players in the US and in the world - 2 Grandmasters- Kamsky 2752 rating ( Kamsky is no 19 in the world and no 1 in the US as at August 2006 : http://www.uschess.org/ratings/top/0608/genList.php?filename=TopOverall.txt&&pheader=Top%20Overall) and Dmitry Gurevich 2591 and 1 international Master (IM), Peter Vavrak 2464. His impressive wins were against IM Timothy Taylor 2388, who has lost to chikore twice now, drew against Fide Masters (FM) Joseph Bradford 2475 and Holger Schacht 2328. As always, many chess players are starting to pay attention to Chikwere. His future is bright in the International Chess Community.
3. International Master Oladapo Adu: The winner of the ADU - ONYEKWERE MATCH in Houston came late after 4 rounds of the event. He was given for 4 BYES = 4 1/2 points each so he could join and begin in round 5. He finished with 3 draws , 1 win and 1 Loss to IM David Vigorito 2419. This is another impressive showing despite his lateness to the event.
We congratulate all of them and look forward to more great tournaments in the future.
Results of Foxwoods open section here:
1 http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3785
2. http://members.cox.net/tournaments/foxwoods/openfinal.HTML
Emmanuel Omuku of Nigeria (extreme right in black suit) with the Presidential board of the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
* Thanks to Casto Abundo for granting us permission to use this picture.
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Below: The Safari Court Hotel - Venue of the Chess Tournament
Windhoek (pronounced "Vind hook") meaning, "Card of Wind" is the Capital of Namibia, the host Country of the 2007 African Individual Chess Championship. Windhoek is a city traditionally known for its hot Springs - the "Ai-Gams/Otjomuise" (translated "hot springs/a place of steam" ). As a matter of fact, the early settlers came to settle here because of its hot springs.
With this historical background, it is then safe to say Windhoek, the place of hot springs or a place of steam is hosting some of the best chess players of Africa (hot chess players) and its going to get really hot very soon in a city of hot spring with all the ongoing chess commotion at the Safari Court Hotel.
Already, we have many upsets at this event and you can view the complete results and a daily update here below. Also, if you are interested in knowing more about the beautiful city of Windhoek, you can find their official website here below. Finally, you can also get in the thick of the action by blogging your opinon on the Chess Drum Blog. The link to it is also here below.
Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the tournament analysis on the blog and may the best player win.
1. City of Windhoek: http://www.windhoekcc.org.na/
2. View the results here: http://chess-results.com/tnr7817.aspx?ix=1&art=3&lan=1&mm=1&m=-1&turdet=YES
3. Chess Drum Blog: http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/
The 9th All-Africa Games starts today July 11-23, 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Highlights of the Chess event will be provided here on a regular basis. Eleven Countries took part in the Chess tournament at the last All Africa Games held in Abuja, Nigeria two years ago. Egypt won the Gold medal in that event :http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=262 .
This year’s event should also produce some excitement and an improvement in the African chess arena. Regular Commentary and discussions on the All Africa Games chess tournament will also be on the Chess Drum blog of Dr Daaim Shabazz. Hope to see you all there bloging: http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/
More Links :
South African Team: http://www.chessa.co.za/body/contentDetail.action?contentID=38
Uganda's Chess team: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90779/6205449.html
Zambias Amon Simutowe : http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=28684
Kenya's Chess Team: http://kenyanchessblog.blogspot.com/
