Serbia is the latest country to join Belarus, Romania, Egypt and Uganda for the first Lagos International Chess classics.
As the classics continue to grow, Serbia’s Dejan Antic has signed up for the four-day tournament.
Antic is one of the top Serbian players and a grand master.
He will join other top players from Belarus, Romania, Egypt and Uganda.
According to the Tournament Director, Babalola Adebayo, all arrangements have been put in place to ensure a hitch free championship.
Aside the grand master, international masters within Nigeria, including Bunmi Olape, Fola Akintola, Odion Aikhoje and Oladapo Adu, will also be a part of the competition holding at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos State.
Adebayo said that the tournament is one of the series in the Lagos-organised Sports Classics and has been endorsed by the World Chess Federation as a ranking event.
The tournament kicks off on October 8 and ends on October 11.
The Chairman, Main Organising Committee of the tournament, Wahid Oshodi, has said that it would help to horn the skills of Nigerian players.
Oshodi said: “The Lagos Chess Classics is one of the events in the Lagos Sports Classics and it is coming after the publicly acclaimed successful table tennis event of the classics.
“We have taken every step to ensure that we maintain the high standards we have set for this series of events.
“Once again, we are appealing to our friends in the media to continue to help us inform the public about this event.
“We want the fans to come in and support the international and local players to do their best.
“The Chairman of the Lagos State Chess Association, Fela Bank-Olemoh, with his team, the NCF along with FIDE have worked very hard to put all necessary processes in place to ensure an excellent tournament in a safe and secure atmosphere.
“And we believe that events like this will help increase the appeal of chess to our sports loving public.”
It would be recalled that the President of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, hailed Nigeria for joining the league of countries staging international tournaments.
Also, the President, Nigeria Chess Federation, Lekan Adeyemi, has thrown his weight behind the championship, while also pledging support for the Lagos Classics.
The players would compete in three categories and these are men and women Open as well as U-14 boys and girls. This is the first international chess tournament to be staged in Nigeria this year.
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