Nigerian Players Battle Ready for Chess Olympiad

International Master Dapo Adu and nine other Nigerian chess players will from this evening shoulder the pride of the nation as Nigeria set to do battle with other countries from Monday  when the 40th World Chess Olympiad gets underway in Istanbul, Turkey .

For two weeks, chess prodigies led by Grand Masters  Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen will display their brilliancies over the chess board for their country to determine the overall winner of the 11round Swiss-event pairing.

The Nigerian team led by International Master Dapo Adu, who joined the tram from his United States based, expressed optimism of the country's participation at the global event.

"I am confident that we can make something  from this  competition considering the preparations we have put in place. We know that we are competing among the best in the world and Nigerians are looking up to us especially after bad outing at the just concluded London Olympic Games.

"We have a team with a blend of young and experienced players that will make a mark when the competition beings today and if we cannot make something in the team event, I am very sure that Nigeria will make something from both category and continental placement," he assured last night.

Aside Adu, other players in the male section are; Bomo Kigigha who made his debut at the global event in 2008 in Dresden, Germany, Oragwu Chukwunonso, Balogun Femi and Adesina Adeyinka. The last three are debutants of the event.

In the female category, the trio of Olatunji Oluwatobiloba, Dzaayem Vivian and  Funmi Akinola, all debutant at the last event in Russia will lead the pack with Asanga Nsisong-Bassey and Alexis Dikeocha all aiming to make a mark on the center stage.

"This team is prime for success especially all the players who are participating for the first time. It is a big opportunity for them to made FIDE ratings while he older players can improve on their titles if they play well in this competition," team's coach Lekan Adeyemi  said shortly after the team's meeting after opening ceremony last night.

The pairings would be released after the captains' meeting this morning.

In all, 162 countries are participating in the completion with the host, Turkey parading two teams fir both male and female.