By Wale Oyeleye
Danhypro Chess Academy in partnership with a few anonymous sponsors home and abroad have agreed to support junior/grassroot chess development in Nigeria.
The Academy aims to provide as much support as possible to junior chess players as they believe they are the future of Nigerian chess.
Juniors are players who are between ages 3-20.
This support is solely provided to juniors based on performance and not ethnic preferences or personal relationships. Excellence will be rewarded above anything else. They will be supporting with training devices, premium subscription for chess softwares, chess scholarships, tournament participation etc.
Due to the lack of consistent junior tournaments in Nigeria, they have also taken it upon themselves to organize a monthly online rapid swiss tournaments for Juniors under the age of 14years and under 20 years with a total cash prize of 100k in naira.
This is to solely provide a competitive atmosphere for juniors to practice and improve their skills. Also to make them realize they are not alone on their journey towards chess mastery. If you’re exceptional, they will try their best to support and mentor you within means available.
This monthly rapid event also provides a platform to recognize and discover hidden/neglected talents who hold great potential.
The youngest international master in Nigeria Daniel Anwuli knows what it feels like to be a junior chess player in Nigeria without any training resources at his disposal, it’s quite lonely and tough. So if you’re a junior and you’re working hard, don’t give up on your dreams.
As of today, 5 laptops have been distributed to 5 juniors from 5 different states which are Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Edo and Kogi.
So far so good , they have provided juniors with 7 laptops, 2 chess scholarships, 9 chessbase15 + mega database softwares etc.
If you’re interested in supporting junior chess in Nigeria, kindly reach out to IM Daniel Anwuli at gmdanhy@gmail.com
