The Triumph of Lapite and Other Stories

November 30, 2022

In some sense, the start of a chess tournament is a very childlike thing. There are many hopes and many whose hopes will be dashed. This is a report of Chess Heights Lagos Monthly of November 5 and something quite like this went down. Shout out is in order to Multigrace College. Thirteen of its student registered for this one tourney, we hope they keep it up.

The only titled player in attendance FM Olamide Ajibowo was also the number one seed. He was closely followed by two of the best Chess Heights results in history Udeme Edet and Rotimi Lapite. Also very noteworthy was the participation of the 9th seed, Oluwole Oladele, who is the only repeat champion we have had this year. Others who had potentials to make big marks included Kaduna sensation Joshua Adejoh, Karebo Okubuarere, Ifeanyi Okonkwo, Obioma Onuoha, Olaonipekun Agusto, the rising Teniola Abiola, John Onabote and Efosa Evbuomwan.

The deputy chief arbiter, Ogochukwu Ejim, started of round 1 and the struggle became earnest. FM Olamide Ajibowo was given a draw but that was no upset, he asked for bye in round one. It was Rotimi Lapite that got shocked, He couldn’t beat the Ibadan based Lanre Adeshina who was 505 points lower rated than him. Often, ratings lie.

Round 2 did not have many shocks.  Udeme Edet won a tough fight on board 1 against John Onabote to retain his seat on board 1 while Joshua Adejoh drew Efosa Evbuomwan rated 249 points below him. Playing to catch up, Rotimi Lapite, FM Olamide Ajibowo and Vice President of NCF, Yinka Adewole, all won their game,

The third round saw Udeme Edet retain his position on board 1 by beating ageing legend Olaonipekun Agusto. Teniola Abiola reached beyond rating to beat Karebo Okubuarere whilst the trio of Rotimi Lapite, FM Olamide Ajibowo and Yinka Adewole all won their games to stay in contention.

The fourt round saw prize winners shaping up. Men were being separated from boys. Teniola Abiola shocked the world by defeating perennial board 1 Udeme Edet,, while among those playing catch up there was a clash between FM Ajibowo and Rotimi Lapite, which was won by the later. Yinka Adewole, a Yoruba prince, also won his game to remain in striking distance.

Somehow this write up has been silent on the exploits of Obioma Onuoha who by dint of self effort forced his way into board 1 in the fifth and penultimate round against new tournament leader Teniola Abiola, and even won the game. The catch uppers clashes continued with a battle between Rotimi Lapite and Yinka Adewole, which Rotimi won. Notable was the bad form of Oluwole Oladele who lost this time to Joshua Adejoh. Notable also was a poor game by FM Ajibowo in this round losing to John Onabote. The stage is now set for the final round.

Who will triumph? What prize will be won by whom? Rather than continue telling plenty stories, I will show the results of round 6 complete in tabular manner.

Pairings/Results

Round 6 on 2022/11/05 at 5:30PM

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
17Onuoha Obioma20410 – 1Lapite Oluwadurotimi21323
24Adejoh Joshua209140 – 14Edet Udeme Dominic21462
310Abiola Teniola194541 – 04Orogun Samuel164717
413Onabote Olasubomi John185740 – 1Adewole Adeyinka Samuel193811
515Evbuomwan Efosa18421 – 0Ejale Emmanuel Osobase030
618Oyelese Iyiola Ayodeji164630 – 13Okubuarere Karebo20835
76Okonkwo Ifeanyi207231 – 03Oladele Oluwole19599
88Agusto Olaonikpekun201431 – 03UCHE EMMANUEL042
916FALUYI DAMOLA175730 – 13ADEBAYO OLADAYO021
1020Chukura Adanwakaego Ololade15760 – 1FMAjibowo Olamide Patrick21481
1126Anyanwu Ikechukwu00 – 1Adefila Hammed184514
1219Lanre Adeshina16271 – 0OWOLABI ONAMADE041
1322ADEIGA DAVID02½ – ½OKULAJA SHERIFF037
1431EZEH ANTHONY021 – 02ADEPOJU ANUOLUWA023
1543UGHEIGHELE EMMANUEL021 – 02ADEPOJU AYOMIDE024
1639ONYEDIKACHI AZOLIBE020 – 12CLEMENT GOD028
1734IBEKWE DAVID00 – 12IBEKWE DANIEL033
1825AMIRIZE DANIEL010 – 1CORNELIUS JOSEPH029
1936OGUNDELE JAMIU011 – 01AYOTOLA TEMI027
2038OMOBOWALE ISRAEL O.011 – 01EZENWA EMMANUEL032
2140OMOROWA Osas001bye 
2212Esho Olumide Daniel18910not paired 
2335MADU PASCAL010not paired 

That was how Rotimi Lapite became the champion of Chess Heights Lagos Monthly, November 2022.

There were seven prizes in Open Category. The list of winners is given below:

13Lapite OluwadurotimiNGR21325,50521,5
210Abiola TeniolaNGR194551522
32Edet Udeme DominicNGR214650522
47Onuoha ObiomaNGR20414,50424,5
511Adewole Adeyinka SamuelNGR19384,50423,5
615Evbuomwan EfosaNGR18424,50419,5
76Okonkwo IfeanyiNGR207240423
817Orogun SamuelNGR164740421,5
95Okubuarere KareboNGR208340421,5
1013Onabote Olasubomi JohnNGR185740419,5
118Agusto OlaonikpekunNGR201440418,5
1221ADEBAYO OLADAYONGR040418
134Adejoh JoshuaNGR209140320,5
1

There were three ladies prizes, as only two girls showed up they both got prizes.

1st Ada Chukura

2nd Anuoluwa Adepoju.

The Under 14 got medals

Gold was Daniel Ibekwe.

Silver was Emmanuel Uche

Bronze was David Adeiga.

This edition was supported by the following

  1. Bayo Opadeyi
  2. Danhypro Services Ltd
  3. Ogolowa Clifford
  4. Yinka Adewole

Below are pictures from the event: