By: Naneka A. Hoffman
A 13-man delegation from the Liberia Chess Federation (LCF) has left the country to participate in the 44th World Chess Olympiad in India.
The 44th Chess Olympiad will take place from July 28 to August 10, 2022, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu region located on the Southeastern coast of India
The team’s departure followed the federation’s completion of it squad which includes 10 players.
The players include five males on the Open Section Team and five females on the Female Team, who are expected to represent the country in the biggest chess competition of this year.
The male players include Liberia’s 2022 national champion, Bobby Ballah, Candidate Master, Daniel Kolliemenen, Fidi Master, Barcon Harmon, Joel Ebiekuta and Arnold Smith.
The female squad includes Abigail Karyah (current champion), Teta Thompson (former champion), Windor Tarplah (former champion), Meleh N. Davis and Princess Banney.
Other members of the delegation are Thomas Karyah, President of the Liberia Chess Federation and FIDE Congress Delegate, Tamba William Saa, Captain of the open session team and Foday Kondoh, Captain of the female team, respectively.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]
The selection of participating players was done based on a five-day qualifier, held in the A. Nanuh Manly Memorial Library at the William V.S. Tubman High School Campus from May 28 –to June 5, 2022.
While in India, Liberia will participate in the Chess General Assembly which is expected to be held from July 31 to August 9, 2022.
According to the International Chess Federation (FIDE), this year’s edition will witness an increase number of participating teams from the number recorded in last edition, which took place 2018 in Batumi, Georgia.
In the open section, two participating teams have been added from the last edition to make it 187, while 11 teams registered for the Women’s event to make it 162.
Meanwhile, before team Liberia’s departure on Monday, July 25, 2022, Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson T. Koijee urged the delegation to represent Liberia well on the world stage and make the country and themselves proud.
‘As you prepare to embark on this journey to India, I urge you to do more as you look for a second consecutive World Chess Olympiad appearance”, Mayor Koijee said.
He reminded members of the Liberian delegation to bear in mind they are not representing themselves but the entire 4.5 million people of Liberia by lifting the national colors (Flag of Liberia) high.
“Give your all when you are given the opportunity, follow the directives and instructions given to you by your technical team so that the objective that we have set together with the hard-working President (George Weah), will be achieved”, the City Mayor said.
He applauded the federation’s first president, now Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, for his tremendous effort to revamp the chess sector by capturing them in the budget. Editing by Jonathan Browne
