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Team Nigeria, comprising Bomo Kigigha, Suleiman Azumi, Enomah Emmanuella, and Deborah Quickpen, departed the country on Saturday for the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad Budapest 2024, taking place in Budapest, Hungary.
The quartet will vie for honours in different categories of the event, which started on September 10 and will run through September 23 in the European nation.
Notably among them is Nigerian chess prodigy Deborah Quickpen, a wildcard entrant who was recently awarded the Woman Candidate Master (WCM) award by FIDE.
The 13-year-old Nigerian champion, who is one of the players to watch in her age bracket at the event, shared her excitement on the cusp of the team’s departure on Saturday.
“Destination: Budapest, Hungary. Mission: Chess Olympiad. Target: It’s time to raise the flag flying high. Wish us success,” the Bayelsa State indigene wrote on her Instagram page.
The 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad has been opened in Budapest since Wednesday, with almost 2,000 chess players, from world number-one Magnus Carlsen to over 200 unrated participants, converging on the Hungarian capital, but the Opening Ceremony was not the enormous spectacle witnessed in Chennai in 2022.
The Chess Olympiad, held once every two years, is the highest-participation top event in chess, with 380 national teams of five players from almost 200 countries competing in an 11-round tournament played over four boards.
The last Olympiad in Chennai, India, in 2022 was opened by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a huge stadium. This time the opening ceremony was much more modest, but Hungarian chess royalty was on hand as the Polgar sisters did the honours.
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