Kigigha, Quickpen  Emerge as  2023 Chess Champion

Femi Solaja 

After seven days of brilliant chess display, the duo of FIDE Master, Bomo Kigigha and Deborah Quickpen have emerged champions of Nigerian chess championships for the next one year. 

Kigigha, a veteran of many international tournaments including the World Chess Olympiad, dominated the rest of the pack in the invitational section (Elite cadre) with 7.5 points. 

The victory was the fourth win on the trot for the Bayelsa State-born FIDE Master who is ranked among the legends of the game in the country. 

After a bad run at the start of the tournament with 0.5 out of three games, the dominant player went on a winning streak that and garnered enough strength to overcome the defending champion, Oluwafemi Balogun whom he defeated with better end-game positioning and with a pawn advantage. 

“I was lucky to bounce back after the initial setbacks. I was able to retain my lines and played brilliant games which I won and going against the defending champion, Balogun was not an easy task but I was discipline with all my rhetoric and with a pawn advantage, I was better going into the end game,” Kigigha said.   

In the Ladies section, Quickpen, a product of the National Youth Games also emerged as the best in the section. 

The 11-year-old star thus became the youngest player to win the category as she bettered the record set over two decades ago by Oluwatobi Olatunji (now Oloruntola). 

She will represent the country at next year’s African Championship at a venue yet to be decided by the African Chess Federation. 

 “I’m delighted to have attained this feat and it’s just the beginning of my desire to play well and win many more tournaments both local and international. 

“I was in good frame of mind all through the tournament and did my best not to underrate any of my opponents knowing fully well that I played among the best in the country today,” Quickpen remarked after the tournament.  

In the Masters section, Sunny Eyenghe was the winner and played better than two International Masters in the mix. 

The tournament was put together by Nigeria Chess Federation with great support from Orchid Hotel in Lekki.