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Saturday, July 23, 2011
Where is Chikwere Onyekwere??
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 ??
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The future appears (appeared) to be bright for the Nigerian lad. Years ago, Theophilus Caifus mapped out a five-year plan for producing the nation's first Grandmaster. With active International Masters such as Fola Akintola, Odion Aikhoje and Oladapo Adu, Chikwere can draw inspiration and hopefully strive to become the nation's first Grandmaster. The confident young man will continue to make an impression while based in the US, but as mentioned in the directive, funding will be needed to develop the wealth of talent in Nigeria. Time will tell if Chikwere can soar like a Nigerian Eagle.
I GUESS THE SPONSORSHIP NEVER CAME !! and i strongly believe Chikwere was begining to get frustrated as at the time he had issues with other Nigerian players due to his "Rude" comments on chess drum. Magnus Carlsen got sponsors when everyone noticed he has got talent.....why cant we get sponsors for our stars in Nigeria, Chikwere's story could have been different with the right strategy and support . now where on earth is he??
[Event "34th World Open"]
[Site "Philadelphia USA"]
[Date "2006.06.28"]
[EventDate "2006.06.28"]
[Round "1"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Chikwere Onyekwere"]
[Black "Hikaru Nakamura"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2075"]
[BlackElo "2664"]
[PlyCount "110"]
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Be2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O
7. exd6 cxd6 8. c4 Nb6 9. Nc3 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Nc6
12. c5 dxc5 13. dxc5 Nd7 14. Be3 Qc8 15. Rc1 Rd8 16. Qb3 Nde5
17. Be4 Qe6 18. Qxb7 Rab8 19. Qa6 Rxb2 20. Nd5 Rxd5 21. Bxd5
Qxd5 22. Qc8+ Bf8 23. Rfd1 Qe6 24. Qxe6 fxe6 25. Bd4 Nxd4
26. Rxd4 Nc6 27. Rd7 Rxa2 28. Rc7 Ra6 29. Rc8 Kf7 30. Rc3 Bg7
31. Rc4 Bf6 32. g3 e5 33. Rc1 Ke6 34. Rd1 Nd4 35. Rc7 h5
36. h4 e4 37. Kg2 e3 38. fxe3 Ra2+ 39. Kf1 Nf5 40. Rd8 Nxg3+
41. Kg1 Kf5 42. Ra8 Rc2 43. Rcxa7 Ne4 44. Ra2 Rxc5 45. Kg2
Bxh4 46. R8a5 Rxa5 47. Rxa5+ e5 48. Kf3 Bf6 49. Ra4 g5 50. Rb4
g4+ 51. Kg2 h4 52. Kh2 Bg5 53. Rb3 g3+ 54. Kh3 Nf2+ 55. Kg2
Kg4 0-1
wonderful !!
[Event "Foxwoods Open"]
[Site "Foxwoods"]
[Date "2007.04.04"]
[EventDate "2007.??.??"]
[Round "1.2"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Gata Kamsky"]
[Black "Chikwere Onyekwere"]
[ECO "B97"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2267"]
[PlyCount "69"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6
7. f4 Qb6 8. Nb3 Nbd7 9. Qf3 Qc7 10. a4 b6 11. Bd3 Bb7 12. O-O
Be7 13. Qh3 h6 14. f5 e5 15. Kh1 Rc8 16. Rae1 Qb8 17. Bd2 Qa8
18. Qg3 h5 19. Bg5 h4 20. Qh3 Rxc3 21. bxc3 Nxe4 22. Bxe7 Kxe7
23. Bxe4 Bxe4 24. Nd2 Bd5 25. Rf4 Kf8 26. Rxh4 Bxg2+ 27. Kg1
Rxh4 28. Qxh4 Nf6 29. Qh8+ Ng8 30. Re3 Qd5 31. Rd3 Qc6 32. Rg3
Bd5 33. Qxg7+ Ke7 34. Qxg8 Qd7 35. f6+ 1-0
Another interesting game by Chikwere>
Sure, Chikwere .G. Onyekwere is a real gen. The Nigerian no.1 chess born. Still the youngest national, international & world champion in chess records/levels. Striking mega waves nationally, internationally & world wide. He's really doing great! Chikwere is born a star no doubt..
I'd love to be like Chikwere Onyekwere when I grow up. Chikwere, the Nigerian chess first born. God bless the womb, day, minuite & second you were born. A true gen was purely born on earth..thumbs up chess great great grand master! I'll never cease to respect you. May all your enermies remain behind you..amen!