Africa-Press – Liberia. Monrovia-Liberia Chess Federation 2023 National Individual Championship officially kicked off, on Sunday, January 14, 2024 at the Sinkor Palace Hotel in Congo Town.
The 2023 National Chess Championship is the 6th edition of premier chess event since the establishment of the Liberia Chess Federation in 2014. FM Barcon Harmon, James Tondo, Thomas Saah, and Bobby Ballah won 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 and the 2022 editions respectively.
The two weeks’ tournament, putting Liberia’s best 20 chess players against each other will conclude on 28 January 2024.
Twenty (20) players are competing in an 11-round cage fight to squeeze out the 2023 National Individual Chess Champion and fill the 5 Open Section slots at the upcoming World Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest, Hungary.
Before the start of the championship, the federation completed the first set of events for 2023, which include the 2023 Rapid Chess Championship (won by Thomas Saah), and the National Blitz Chess Championship ( won by Kennedy Zinnah Kengo ).
Speaking during the opening ceremony, LCF President Thomas Karyah described this year’s championship as an impotence event that is starting on a small note.
“This event is going to solve many of our problems about the quality of chess in the Liberia and the country representation in international competitions” he said.
He said, with the national classical Championship being live online across with video feed for followers, it is going to directly and indirectly support all of the Federation’s program in order to create more opportunities for the game.
He noted that as people see the game being played in Liberia from the ongoing Championship, they are going to be motivated to participate or support based on the quality delivered by the federation most especially at the competition.
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