Gearing up for the Olympiad trials

Players gear up for World Chess Olympiad Trials
By Olusola Babarinsa
March 8, 2010 12:55AM

Chess players invited by the Chess Federation of Nigeria (CFN) for the first stage of the World Chess Olympiad Trials, which holds in the National Stadium from 21st to 27th March, say they are ready to do the nation proud.

The invitation to participate in the trials was sent to 118 chess players after almost three hours of deliberation of the Chess Federation Technical Committee. The Chess Olympiad is schedule to hold in Khanty -Mansiysk, Russia from 19th September to 4th of October 2010.

The World Chess body, FIDE has written to all federations that preliminary registration must be forwarded by May 20th and the final list of players must reach the secretariat on or before 15th of July.

Bunmi Olape, who represented Nigeria at the 2004 Chess Olympiad in Mallorca, Spain, says nothing will stop him from representing his country at the global championships later in the year.

Olape, a National Master, said; “I have been representing Nigeria at different Olympiads since 2004, I don’t see any reason why I should not scale through the trials. Though there are a lot of young players coming into chess now, I still believe I have what it takes to get into the finals and the championships itself. It is all about how prepared one is and I am prepared.”

Here is the full article.