Students from across the country will converge on Lagos on May 7 to vie for honours and cash at the Third Ecobank National Schools Team Chess Championship, the organisers have said.

Apart from the medals and other prizes at stake, the teams will also vie for various cash rewards from the N20 prize money courtesy of Ecobank.

The championship will be held at the Ecobank Pan African Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The Vice President of the Nigeria Chess Federation, Adeyinka Adewale, said yesterday in Lagos that the tournament is limited to primary and secondary school students.

Adeyinka said that the winners in the primary schools category will get N2 million, while the champions in the secondary schools category will be rewarded with N2.5 million.

Head of Educational and Social Services at Ecobank, Kunle Adewoyi, said that the bank was particular about chess sponsorship because it helps in the development of the kids.

“Ecobank is very particular about human capital development, and this championship aligns very strongly with our s
strategic initiative for people’s development,” he said.

Adewoyi frowned at the fact that Uganda, a much smaller country with a population of about 50 million, has a Grand Master in chess, while Nigeria has none.

“As big as we are, Nigeria does not have a Chess Grand Master. I am going to challenge the young students to aim to become that through this pathway we are providing. We will be willing to bring out the best in these children to become Grand Masters in the near future.”

Adewoyi also hinted that exceptional players in the competition may be offered the opportunity to do an internship at the bank to further develop their thinking capacity and gain mastery in banking procedures.

Also speaking at the event, Head of Marketing at Schoolmate, a co-sponsor company, Ambesh Kumar, said his organisation was identifying with the championship because it stood for what they believed in.

“We are concerned about quality education for children, and we find this tournament to be a veritable way of furthering that cause, hence our involvement. Last year, we distributed books for the children, and this is the first time we are coming in as a co-sponsor. We are happy to be with them. Schoolmate has been operating in Nigeria for some years now, and we see this Chess championship as a way of giving back to society,” Kumar stated.