The Danhypro U20 Chess Tour is no longer new to the professional chess world after its maiden edition in Port Harcourt and Abuja. However, you might be curious as to what the tournament is about — Please, read on.
The DanhyPro Chess Tour is a multimillion naira prized chess tournament for junior players across Nigeria. It has been scheduled to take place in four different cities across Nigeria; Port Harcourt, Abuja, Asaba, and Lagos which covers three (3) of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria (South-South, North-Central, and South-West) respectively.
Tour participants will compete for a grand prize of two million naira (₦2,000,000), including ₦425,000 per city tournament. In addition to that, a bonus prize totaling Three Hundred thousand Naira ₦300,000 will be awarded to the overall best top three in the tour.
Following the success of the Port Harcourt and Abuja edition, Delta State will be hosting the next edition in her capital city, Asaba on Saturday, 31st of July, and Sunday, 1st of August. Following the slogan of the state (The big heart), we are assured of a peaceful sojourn in the two days.
In the last two editions, we have had many impressive performances from both the male and female players and we are more than delighted to share.
Since the ratio of FIDE-rated players in the event is not quite proportionate to the none rated, we will do this analysis based on game points and tie breakpoints.
Take a look at some of the top-ranking stars;
Idara joined the tour during the second edition at the FCT, Abuja. Regardless, he got the attention and love of the tournament followers from across the nation very quickly after delivering six (6) wins, two (2) draws, and one (1) loss bagging 7.5 points in 9 games. Idara Emmanuel is known to be a dexterous player although underrated. But at this point, there is no doubt about the fact that this young man has some depth and has got games up his sleeves.
We look forward to seeing him bring his A-game to this edition one more time. Please take a look at one of his games from the Abuja Edition of the DanhyPro Chess Tour against Olisa Tennyson.
Over the years, this 1479 ELO player has been putting in quite some work to prove himself stronger than his initial FIDE rating. This statement he made boldly at the 1st
Danhypro Invitational Team Chess Tournament earlier in March 2021 where he scored two draws and two wins against some of the top players in Nigeria including; FM Onovughe Ochuko Emmanuel (2146), Eluekezie Chukwuwikeh (2091), Edet Udeme (2180), and Akagha Tochukwu (2091).
Undoubtedly, It hasn’t been very easy for “17-year-old” Akinbodewa Adebayo in his age group tournament filled with strong-willed youngsters like him. But his performance has been extraordinary with 5.5/9points in the Abuja Edition and 6.5/9 points in the Port Harcourt Edition, it is safe to say Akinbodewa is a player to look out for in the upcoming tournament.
In the last two editions of the DanhyPro U20 Chess Tour, Eyetonghan Denyefa Callistus had a hard time landing his punches as you would expect of the highest-rated (rapid rating) player of the tournament. However, it is pertinent to say that he has not done badly with his performances such as 6.5 points of 9 games in Port Harcourt and 6 points of 9 games in Abuja.
In our expectations, this upcoming tournament should be an easy task for Callistus from start to finish as he is the highest-rated player of the tournament by a wide gap of over 60 ELO points. But, this is chess- anything can happen.
Although ratings are a numerical difference in the strength of players, they don’t always determine the performance of players on the board. Sometimes, a player who is very strong, talented with the ratings might just find himself amid well-prepared opponents.
Mr.Tennyson has been putting up impressive performances over the last few months and has also maintained a constant upward trend in his rating progression with only 19 points away from the 1900 ELO-FIDE Rating having started with an initial rating of 1845.
Olisa finished with 7.5 points of 9 games in the Port Harcourt edition of the DanhyPro U20 chess tour placing him joint first and 7 points of 9 games at the Abuja Edition.
Take a look at this very impressive game;
After two solid performances, Isaac Okeke stays second on the leaderboard. Isaac finished third place with 7 points in the Port Harcourt edition of the tour and ended up the champion at the Abuja edition with 7.5 points.
Just a month after the Abuja edition, CM Isaac Okeke emerged as one of the highest gainers on Nigeria’s FIDE rating list by adding up a whopping 94.8 points to his classical ratings. It is safe to say we would be expecting a stronger performance from him.
Toluwanimi is on top of the performance leaderboard with a total of 14.5 points accumulated from the Port Harcourt and Abuja editions of the DanhyPro Chess Tour. The young lad finished joint first with 7.5 points and outperformed his strongest opponent, Olisa Tennyson by a Tie-Break point (TB3) taking the first place.
In the Abuja Edition, Toluwanimi, after the tough time given by his well prepared opponents finished joint first alongside Isaac Okeke with 7.5points. He finished in second place after the tie-break.
In this edition, we look forward to seeing Toluwanimi bring up a stronger play. Take a look at his game from the last edition.
The Asaba Edition comes up on Saturday 31st of July. Stay with us to get live commentary from the games.
To follow the tournament live games and analysis, please subscribe to the organizers’ YouTube channel by clicking on this link
