The third edition of the Nigeria National Chess Championship yesterday kicked off in Lagos with the opening ceremony at the Orchid Lekki Hotel.

This year’s edition has been extended to 12 top chess players from the previous 10 in the past two editions for battle for the national title in a round rubin format.

Eight players with direct qualification, including defending champion, top five rated players, the best junior player and the wildcard player selected by the president of the Nigeria Chess Federation (NCF).

The other four are selected from the winners of a qualification tournament. The championship will be concluded on October 9, 2023.

For the first time, NCF is inducting legends in the chess game and ex-national champions into the Nigeria Chess Hall of Fame. Seven individuals and two organisations are the pioneer inductees.

They include Dr Sylvanus Ebigwe, NCF founder referred to as father of chess in Nigeria; ex-Minister of Health and national chess master, Vice Admiral Jibrila Ayinla (rtd); first chess Olympian medalist, Ime Etokowo; Fumilayo Agusto; former national junior champion, Emmanuel Omuku; two-time national champion, Oyeneyin Tajudeen and ex-junior and senior chess champions, Oluwasheyitun Olufemi.

Two organisations The Punch Newspapers and Nigerian Breweries were also inducted.