CPAN Chess: Lekki Goes Joint Tops with Pedachess

Leaders, Pedachess suffered their first defeat in the on-going Chess Players Association of Nigeria (CPAN) League just as Lekki Chess team made the biggest move to tie Pedachess at the top on the leader board.

Pedachess that ended the first round without losing a match were upset by Evergreen Chess team which featured Oluwaseun Ajasa, one of the best ranked women players.

Her effort was complimented by some veteran players like Rotimi Dasaolu, Olympians Obafunsho Agusto and Femi Oluwaseyitan that saw to it that they emerged victorious against the tournament leaders.

Lekki Chess team that had a poor start to the competition picked up in this round and moved into joint top position with Pedachess.

Team Saxx avoided defeat in all three rounds played in the latest edition to retain their fourth position.

Overall, the Facility Control Chess team turned out the biggest gainers as they had a huge helping from Jonathan Oyelabi, the U-16 player who picked draws in round 5 against Bomo Kigigha the highest ranked player in the country and in Round 8 against Femi Oluwaseyitan one of the veterans. They moved to third place on the leaders’ board.

The concluding round of the CPAN Tournament will hold in November with the three top teams contesting for the winning spot while the rest will play for better rankS and earn bragging rights.

President of CPAN, Magnus Ekpiken, in his evaluation of the tournament described it as a success, disclosing that new talents have been discovered.

According to him, “young players who have previously been participated in only junior events have had the opportunity of playing with the best players in the country and most of them have shown tremendous capacity to be strong in the future. In the process, their confidence has been boosted. The issue now would be how to get sponsorship to organize more events, as well as give new talents international exposure”.

12 teams are participating in the tournament and they include Pedachess, Blue Ocean, Lekki and Evergreen team. Others are Facility Control, Magic Magnus, Team Saxx and Outliers team. The rest are Decipher, Greater Tomorrow, Delta Creed and Chess Sensation.