Where is Chikwere Onyekwere? i met him personally at the National sports Festival Edo 2002, when i played him on Board three and gave him a scare, sacrificing my Knight for three passed pawns against his Sicilian Najdorf, the famous NXb5 sac! he won the N.B.L chess opens(Masters Category)making him the Nigerian National chess champion in the year 2005, after which he went on a tour to the United states and was doing well,we were in touch by email for a while but lost contact after some months. i saw his game against GM Gata Kamsky and also GM Nakamura, Hikaru (currently sixth in the world) though he lost both games against the American Champions in Open tournament but he played like a true master of the game and made some interesting moves and shows the gap between him and the GMs is not that much, he has scored well in major U.S. events, the World Open (5-4) and ended U.S. Open (7-2). many believed he was a Grand master in the making,for anyone in doubt, check out his profile
1999 (At age 14)
1. 2nd position in the U-16 category of THE NASKH CHESS CAMPIONSHIP 1999(Age: 14).Grand Master Sergie Tiviakov was invited to play a simul, and also took part in the Open Section.
2. 1st position in the U-14 category of the NEPA INTERNATIONAL OPEN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 1999.
3. 1st position in the U-14 category of the AGUSTO NATIONAL JUNIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 1999.
4. 1st position in the U-14 category of the NIGERIAN BREWRIES CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 1999.
2000 (At age 15)
1.1st position at the U-16 category and the overall winner of the U-20 category of the AGUSTO NATIONAL JUNIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP, becoming the youngest player in Nigerian History to have won the National Junior chess championship at age 15 therefore became the National Junior Champion at age 15.
2001 (At age 16)
1. Represented Nigeria at the U-16 category of the World Youth Chess Championship in Spain.
2002(At age 17)
1. Gold Medalist at the National Sports Festival, Edo 2002.
2. Qualified at the Olympiad Trials to represent Nigeria at the World Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia. (Over 80 players all over Nigeria were invited for the trials to select the best six in the country. He came fourth at the final stage. As a result he joined the Nigerias teams to the World Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia. He is the youngest ever to represent Nigeria at the Olympiad at age 17.
3. Represented Nigeria at the African Junior Chess Championship held in Gaborone, Botswana in 2002.
2003(At age 18)
1. Won Grand Master Zurab Azmaiparashvilli of the Republic of Georgia in a simultaneous exhibition of 24 players. Grand Master Zurab won 20 games, drew 3 games and lost only one game to Chikwere. Grand Master Zurab Azmaiparashvilli was then the European Chess Champion for the year 2003 and was the trainer to the former world champion Garry Kasparov of Russia.
2. Represented Nigeria at the U-18 category of the World Youth Chess Championship held in Halkidiki, Greece 2003.
2004(At age 19)
1. Tied for 3rd position in the U-2200 category at the North American Open Chess Championship held in Las Vegas, U.S.A.
2005(At age 20)
1. Won several Chess tournaments at the Boylston Chess Club in Summerville, MA.
2.Won a tournament in Lafayette, Louisiana
3. Had an Average performance in the Open Section of the Foxwoods Chess Championship held in CT. Currently has a U.S chess rating of 2292.
4. Won the Nigerian Breweries Chess Championship (N.B.L) and became the current National Chess Champion for Nigeria. He is the National Chess Champion at age 20. He is the youngest player in Nigerian History to have won the National Championship at age 20.
2006 (Age 20 going to 21 in September)
Selected among the 12 Chess players to represent Nigeria at the Chess Olympiad coming up in May in Turin , Italy.
toured the US playing chess tournaments in 2006
the last thing i heard about Chikwere was when he expressed reservations concerning the level of players that competed for the USA zone qualifiers for olympiads and demanded to play IM Dapo Adu who qualified from that zone, this did not go down well with some chess "elders" notably Kenneth Odeh who felt insulted by Chikwere's comments on the www.thechessdrum.net , Chikwere later appologised and blamed frustration of not being able to make it for the trials, at a particular point i sensed a few things, Chikwere was no longer financially okay, niether was he enrolled in any school to further his studies and i doubt if he had a permanent stay in the states. it has been five years after and Chikwere is no where to be found, i hope all is well with this promising chess player (as he then was) where is Chikwere "Chi-Chi" Onyekwere ??
