WAPOGA: CHESS

The West African Polytechnic Games (WAPOGA Games) have come and gone.

From the 21st-31st of March 2007, Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) played host to about 20 polytechnics from all over West Africa, and Nigeria, with the largest contingent had polytechnics from every zone in attendance.

With a classy opening ceremony conducted by the host institution, the event was set in motion. Medals were keenly contested for in various sports including basketball, football, softball, tennis, boxing, and of course chess, to mention a few.
Five institutions participated in the Chess event, and altogether 49 players (28male and 21female) contested. Yaba College of Technology, The Polytechnic Ibadan, The Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti, INP-HP Yamoussoukro (Cote d'voire), and The Federal Polytechnic Kaduna were the five institutions that took part. They were to participate in both a round robin classical event, and a Swiss blitz event.
A meeting of all the team captains and the arbiters was held on the 25th, at which all the rules and regulations of the tournament were spelt out. By 10am the following morning the first round of the classical tournament kicked off. In the male section, Kadpoly whitewashed the men from Yamoussoukro 4-0, Fedpoly Ado fell by the same margin to Ibadanpoly, while Yabatech was on bye. The female section was a little ''more competitive'' . Fedpoly Ado defeated Yabatech 2-1, Ibadanpoly defeated Yamoussoukro; who came with only one female player (Brou Carmelle Elodie), by 3-0. Kadpoly was on bye.

         
               Miss Carmelle Elodie, only lady from Yamassoukro.

By 3pm the same day, the second round began. Frank of Yamoussoukro was only able to salvage half a point for his side on board 4 in a very tense N+Ps versus B+Ps endgame.

 Another total crush was witnessed when Yabatech demolished Kadpoly 4-0. The high point of this round was the dramatic win by the Former Nigerian National Junior Champion, Fawole Oyeyemi; against the 17 year old youngster of the Kadpoly team. Fawole was forced to sacrifice his Queen for a rook and a weakened castled kingside. His less experienced opponent did not defend accurately an consequently lost. After this game there was a lot of speculation about his level of his concentration. Being one of the biggest names in the event, a lot was expected from him.

In the female section Yabatech - Ibadanpoly ended 3-0 while Kadpoly-Fedpoly Ado was 1-2.
By the end of round 2 the players all retired from the playing venue for the day. The conservative ones went back to the hostels where they were lodged, while the social ones went ‘’hunting’’ for WAPOGA girls and guys. The nightlife was just perfect for the party freaks. Team coaches had a hell of a time getting their athletes to go to bed, especially the chess players . Even our very own CHESSHEIGHTS roving correspondent, Demola Sorungbe didn't get to sleep till about 3am(He claims he was playing blitz!). As at 8am the players had started trooping to the dining hall for their breakfast, and by 10:30am the next round kicked-off.

Round 3 saw another interesting tie between Fedpoly Ado and Yabatech, which ended 1.5 – 2.5. Again Fawole got himself into trouble after building clear and steady. Like someone under a spell he again lost his Queen, this time, for nothing. The very joyous Adopoly player (Adeyemi Adesunkanmi) then exclaimed “Thank you Jesus!!!”. Suddenly, Sunkanmi started playing like someone under a greater spell, and had to forcefully give up the Queen. In a balanced endgame of opposite coloured bishops they both settled for a draw. I guess it's true that “The better player is always lucky”. The men from Yamoussoukro were again the victims of another one sided tie with Ibadanpoly. In the female section Ibadanpoly Vs Kadpoly ended 2-1, while Yamoussoukro-Yabatech was 0-3. Kadpoly and Adopoly were both on bye in the male and female categories respectively

Joke Adeyinka (Kadpoly) - Busola Ogunnaike (Ibadan Poly)

The second and last round of the day began as usual around 3pm after the lunch break. Yabatech-Ibadanpoly was the battle of the Titans. The most fire was on board 1, where Fawole (white) was up against another strong player (Leonard Etuk-Akpan). In an interesting and
Siclian Sveshnikov, Leonard went for a new move somewhere in the middle game and found himself in an inferior position which he went on to loose. With this game, Leonard lost out in the gold medal quest on board one to Fawole. We promise to bring you the game in full, as annotated by Fawole Oyeyemi himself. On the other boards, Henry lost to Jegede (Ibadanpoly), Ojo John drew Uche Agu (Ibadanpoly), while Biola (Yabatech) won against Lateef. Kadpoly-Adopoly ended 2 apiece. Ibadanpoly lost to Adopoly 1-2, and Kadpoly defeated Yamoussoukro 3-0 in the female category.

Day 3 was a rest day for all the athletes, which of course included the chess players too. The players therefore took their time to do different things according to their fancy. Some took the day off to; rest, visit interesting parts of the city (like the Bar beach), go for different art exhibitions held within Yabatech by students, and play blitz.

Art at YABATECH

Art work, of different types are prominently visible around the premises of the Yaba College of Technology, most of them made by the students. Such works show their level of creativity. For example, the above work shows two men of different Nigerian tribes playing musical instruments trying to draw the attention of some ladies (top left corner), one is displaying his wealth, while the other displays his strength.

After the relaxations the athletes returned to competition in their various sports the next day. As for the chess players they concluded the classical event in a much tensed round 5. Before the round commenced, Ibadanpoly was leading the male section with 9.5points, followed by Yabatech with 9.0points. In the female section, Yabatech was in the lead with 7points, followed by Adopoly with 6points. At this point, Ibadanpolys’ male team needed to secure 4points in the last round to clinch the team gold medal, while the female team of Yabatech had to beat their opponent by 3-0 to be the female team champion. Unfortunately, both sides did not see their dreams materialize, thanks to the male and female teams of Kadpoly, who were desperate to prove a point. For Ibadanpoly, they won on all boards except Toyin Jegedes’ (a.k.a Jegedizzle). The unnecessarily tensed Toyin lost when he could have easily settled for a draw, which at least would have put his team on the same number of points with a Yabatech team that went on to win on all boards against Yamoussoukro. This loss did not only cost the Ibadanpoly male team the gold medal, but it also cost Toyin himself a gold medal on board 3. What a sad one!

Toyin Jegede (Ibadan Poly)

On the other side of the pack, the Yabatech female team won by 2-1 against their Kadpoly counterpart. This placed them level on the same points with the ladies from Adopoly, after they beat Yamoussoukro 3-0.

At the end of the final round, there were ties for both team and board medals. Therefore, blitz play-offs had to be played, as the rules already stipulates. Prominent amongst the play-offs was that between the female teams of Yabatech and Adopoly who both slugged it out for the female team gold medal. At the end, Adopoly came out victorious, while Yabatech had to settle for silver.

Adopoly(left) against Yabatech(right) in their Round 1 encounter.

The blitz event then commenced few hours after the play-offs were all decided. This was the moment everybody was waiting for. Spectators wanted to see the mastery of some of these players, most especially the favourites. The favourites in the male category of the blitz event were; the superfast Jegede, the theoretical Fawole, the solid Uche Agu, the smart Nosa, and the export of Fujah Chess club; Ojo John. Little did we know that, ‘’the rejected stone shall become the head corner’’. Ahmed Oladapo (the gentle giant) was not even favoured by blitz enthusiasts to win the event. Slowly, Ahmed moved on to the final, when he defeated the most favoured player; Toyin Jegede, to meet his fellow team mate and another favourite; Fawole Oyeyemi. Ahmed again surprised everybody, when he beat Fawole in the finals, to become the blitz champion of the West African Polytechnic Games.

Oladapo Ahmed Won 3 gol medals for Yabatech!

Ordan Blessing took gold in the female section, when she defeated Bimbo Edunwale (Former member of the Nigerian female team) in the finals.

Blessing Ordan of Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti.

Overall, Yabatech won the chess event, followed by Adopoly, and next was Ibadanpoly.Below You have the overall standings and other pictures.

Final Standings

Institution	Gold	Silver	Bronze
YABATECH	6	6	2
ADO POLY	5	2	3
IBADAN POLY	3	4	4
KAD POLY	0	2	8
YAMASSOUKRO	0	0	3

 

 Bimbo Soyinka, Gold medallist on board 6

Coach Adegboyega of Ibadanpoly (in native attire) watching his boys.

Ojo John Silver medallist on board 4 for Yabatech, and he contributed the most points (4.5pts) for his team.