UNILAG, Daysprings, others win top prizes in chess championship

The University of Lagos (UNILAG), Dayspring School, Lagos, and Marvelvine Montessori School, also in Lagos, have emerged winners in the tertiary, secondary, and primary schools’ categories of the 2024 Ecobank National Schools Team Chess competition held at the Pan African Centre, Lagos.

The Chess competition, described as the largest gathering of chess players in Africa, attracted over 1,200 players from over 250 schools across 18 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Vice President, Nigeria Chess Federation (NCF), Adeyinka Adewole, expressed excitement that the championship, which was introduced last year when the International Chess Federation (ICF) started the World Schools Team Chess Championship, has grown in leaps and bounds.

He noted that the 2024 edition attracted over 1,200 participants, describing NCF’s partnership with Ecobank as a shining example of the public-private partnership needed for the advancement of sports in Nigeria.

118 primary schools, 86 secondary schools, and 42 tertiary institutions participated and battled for prizes of over N15 million at the three-day tournament.

At the end of the tournament, the University of Lagos came tops in the tertiary school category, followed by the University of Benin and Chess in Slums Africa (CISA), while DaySpring School, Platforms School, Ireti Senior Grammar School came first, second and third respectively in the secondary school category.

For the Primary school category, Marvelvine Montessori School came first, while Scholars Academy, Ibadan was second best followed by Okikioluwa Junior in the third position.

The NCF boss said: “When we introduced this championship last year, only 15 schools participated, but