Interview with IM Bunmi Olape Nigeria’s Top Chess player

Interview with IM Bunmi Olape Nigeria’s Top Chess player

By Akinleye Akinseye (Akinov)

He is currently the Highest rated Chess Player in Nigeria, incidentally the Current National chess Champion …….Bunmi Olape got his International Master Title this year , (2011) won an individual Gold medal @ The All African Games (2011) at Maputo and was the only player to defeat The Egyptian Grand master GM Ahmed Adly… at the Blitz event

Hello Bunmi Thank you for accepting the interview, after your brilliant win at the Nigeria National chess championship (sponsored by Nigerian Breweries PLC)

AKINSEYE- Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?

BUNMI - I am Olape Olubunmi, popularly known in the chess circle as 'undertaker', I am the current Chess National Champion of Nigeria, started playing chess in 1991 while i was in secondary school.

AKINSEYE - What got you attracted to chess, how did you start playing chess?

BUNMI - I was attracted by the shape of the chess pieces and fascinated by the peculiar movement of each piece on the chess board. My elder brother brought chess to the family but did not teach me how to play the game, i learnt by watching because am a very inquisitive person and will go to any length to seek for knowledge for something I am passionate about.

AkISEYE -Please tell us a bit more about your “chess history” ?

BUNMI - The secondary school games in 1991 was d event that actually spurred me on to get myself involved in chess, i was able to win Gold at the event for Lagos state, it was unique to me because it was the year i learnt the game of chess, after the event i participated in some nationally rated chess tournaments between 1991-1992 at the under-age group section, in 1993 I moved to d Opens section and won most tournaments i participated in across the country from 1993-1995, then we had several tournaments to attend, which i must confess helped my growth in chess. I moved to the Masters section in 1995 and almost became the national champion on my first appearance at the masters’ section !! but eventually came joint 2nd position., Same year, i won the Mobil chess tournament in Eket and indeed won several laurels btw 1995-1998 ! In 1998 i played my 1st FIDE rated event at d then NEPA international opens tournament, came joint 2nd and got my debut FIDE-ELO from the tournament. 1998 is also d year i represented Nigeria outside the shores of my country at d chess olympiad in Elista, Kalymykia republic of Russia.

AKINSEYE- How did you get to the top in Nigerian Chess, did you play in the
lower categories?

BUNMI - I went thru the due process to get to the top !! From the under-age to the opens and from opens to masters.

AKINSEYE- You recently got the revered International Master Title, can you please
tell us about your entire quest to get the title, the challenges you
faced and how you overcame them?

BUNMI -The major challenge i faced was getting sponsorship, i had to combine sourcing for sponsorship with my training schedule, i had to multi-task myself to get a shot at my goal of getting d enviable IM title at d zone 4.2. Chess championship in Khartourm, Sudan.

AKINSEYE- Which countries did you visit?

BUNMI- I have visited the following countries, Russia, Belgium,Switzerland,Slovenia,Spain,Italy,Germany,Hungary,Togo,Ghana,Cote'Ivoire,Sudan,Mozambique.

AKINSEYE-Getting your last International Master Norm was surely a major chess
breakthrough for you, would you like to tell us about the tournaments,
and how you got each Norm?

BUNMI- For Zonal Chess championship, i did not have to go thru d process of getting 3 norms to get IM title, u're only required to score a certain number of points/percentage to get d title.

AKINSEYE - What is your current FIDE rating and going by your present form and
status , one would have expected that you will get sponsorship fund
for international FIDE sanctioned tournaments (EG London chess
classics December 2011) now that you are hot and can take a shot at
the Chess Grand Master Norm.?

BUNMI- My current FIDE ELO is 2290.I have been faced with this sponsorship drive question on several occasion even b4 i attained my present status, i won't say is difficult n won't say is not difficult in getting sponsorship in this part of d world cos i feel is an aspect that i have not quite exploited, nevertheless i did made some few attempt on my own but is either am faced with no response or slow response n this can be really frustrating if u know what i mean coupled with d fact dt u have to combine this with my training schedule, anyway am not given up on sponsorship, most especially in my quest for d enviable Grandmaster title !!

AKINSEYE- you will agree with me that a very talented player like you sure
needs endorsement and sponsorship from companies and Corporate bodies
to speed up the possibility of getting the first Nigerian GM , there
is need for sponsorship of Talented players like you to International
Chess tournaments.

BUNMI - You are very correct, doing it on my own is very difficult, on few occasions dt i had to sponsor myself to tournaments in Europe, i always lack some basic necessity required of a professional chess player, which affects my concentration at such events, d simple basic needs that most participant had. Endorsement and sponsorship from companies and corporate bodies will definitely speed up d process for me in getting the enviable Grandmaster title.

AKINSEYE- What makes you stand out from other Nigerian chess players? BUNMI-My style n personality!!

AKINSEYE How do you prepare for chess tournaments (Choice of opening/
training)? Someone once told me that “Bunmi Olape does not read chess
books or rely on conventional chess theory” how true is that?

BUNMI-I have some opening repertoire which have been quite reliable over d years. I go thru games a lot n try my best to fault some moves being played by GM's n i test- runs some lines on some players that i do play with most at home n occasionally try it also with d computers ! I have never in totality relied on theoretical books, i try to visualize d position on board ala undertaker style! But now, am beginning to see d need for theoretical books to enhance my strength if i have to make a go at GM title.

AKINSEYE- Do you read chess books? If you do, which chess book have you learnt the most?

BUNMI -I do but try to avoid d theoretical ones because of its complexity by some authors. I have read Chess University and also a book of life and games of Tal, can't remember d author of those books, i have also glanced at several books and read a lot of chess magazines.

AKINSEYE- How often do you practice chess/train?

BUNMI- Now i really don't have a program schedule but i play a lot.

AKINSEYE- How often do you analyze your own games?

BUNMI- I do after and in d course every chess tournament i attend, win or lose !

AKINSEYE-How many moves can you calculate ahead?

BUNMI- Depends on d position

AKINSEYE-What kind of Music do you listen to?

BUNMI- I listen to all genre of music, if it sounds good to my ear but i can be particular about instrumentals.

AKINSEYE -What is your favourite leisure activities, aside chess?-

BUNMI Watching football and traveling

AKINSEYE- In Which tournaments have you represented Nigeria?

BUNMI- NEPA international( FIDE section),Lagos Nigeria, 1998, Chess Olympiads in Russia, 1998, Slovenia, 2002,Spain, 2004, Italy, 2006,Russia 2010, African games Nigeria, 2003, Algeria 2007,Mozambique 2011 etc.

AKINSEYE- What can you say about chess in Nigeria; then, when you started, and now?

BUNMI-In d early 90's and even towards d ending of d 90's chess in Nigeria had several tournaments but went totally on d decline afterwards, this year is experiencing an upsurge considering d number of tournaments we have had this year with a renewed interest from sponsors. I feel with this new found revolutionary trend in Chess in Nigeria, d sky will be the limit!!

AKINSEYE- What about your most memorable chess moments?

BUNMI- I have had several memorable moments in Chess but my achievement this year as been most memorable of all the years, So far this year, I got an international master title, won Gold medal at d African games, Won d National Championship, Am d current highest rated Nigeria on d World chess federation rating list n still counting........

AKINSEYE- How does it feel like becoming the National chess champion finally?

BUNMI- -Is been a great year for me in Chess, becoming d National Champion is great after several attempts at d title, am happy have finally achieved it.

AKINSEYE- Are you now thinking of becoming a Grand Master (GM) of chess that is
getting the GM title?

BUNMI- Getting d GM title is definitely d next step of any aspiring international Master, I have plans, am hoping i get d right sponsorship to actualize my dream of getting d enviable title.

AKINSEYE- What advice do you have for upcoming Nigerian chess players?

BUNMI-They should be steadfast, be patient and don't get discouraged.
Whom do you regard as being the best five active chess players in Nigeria today? R- Bunmi Olape(Myself), Bayo Adegboyega, Adu Dapo,Aikhoje Odion,Bomo Kigigha

AKINSEYE- What do you have to say about your match with International master
Dapo Adu and the need for frequent chess matches between our top
players?

BUNMI

- We had a nice time even though we did not get d sponsorship we required to make it a big event and a media captivating one.

Ok, enough questions for now and on the behalf of the Akinov
chess/Naijahood.com I would like to thank you for answering all these
questions!

Thank you!.

Joke of The day

A man dials his home and a strange
woman answers.
The man says, "Who is this?"
"This is the maid," answers the
woman. "We don't have a maid," says
the man.
The woman says, "I was hired this
morning by the lady of the house."
The man says, "Well, this is her
husband. Is she there?"
The woman replies, "She is upstairs in
the bedroom with someone who I
figured was her husband."
The man is fuming and says to the
maid, "Listen, would you like to make
$50,000?"
The maid says, "What will I have to
do?" The man tells her, "I want you to
get my gun from the desk, and shoot
the witch and the jerk she's with."
The maid puts the phone down; the
man hears footsteps and then two
gun shots. The maid comes back to
the phone "What do I do with the
bodies?"
The man says, "Throw them in the
swimming pool."
Puzzled, the maid answers, "But you
don't have a pool."
A long pause and the man says, "Is
this
08067546854??

Siasia Must Go - Yakubu Aiyegbeni

Look who is talking LOL !

Blackburn Rovers striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni has asked that Samson Siasia be fired as Nigeria coach after he failed to qualify the country to the Nations Cup.

“When you don’t get the result, the coach has to go. That’s football. Siasia didn’t get the country to the Nations Cup, while (Shuaibu) Amodu and Christian Chukwu did and they still got fired,” said Yakubu in an interview. “The manager did not do well even after all the power and support he received. He did not help the team.

“We should therefore look for some else to try his luck. (Stephen) Keshi can do the job.” Yakubu dismissed insinuations that the players may have ganged up to sabotage the coach, saying no player would not want to feature at a big event like the Nations Cup despite the fact some of the big-name stars were at loggerheads with Siasia.

“It’s a disaster, a big shame that we will not be at the Nations Cup. The players will feel it come January when they will have to watch the tournament on television. They wanted to be there and so could not have played not to be there,” he said. ‘The Yak’ has not featured for Nigeria since his unpardonable miss in last year’s World Cup match against South Korea.

He has reportedly cut off contact with Siasia even when the coach tried to reach him when he took over the national team in November.
However, he insisted he has not quit international football. “I have not retired from the national team and I will be available if I’m picked,” he said.

The technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will meet later Thursday in Abuja to decide the fate of Siasia. Sports minister Yusuf Sulaiman’s pronouncement that a decision on Siasia’s future is beyond the NFF is believed to have angered the country’s football officialdom just as opinions are divided over the fate of the coach.

Siasia has received support from his peers and younger colleagues, but older coaches have asked for his head, saying he is not matured enough for the country’s top coaching post.

Siasia rode on an overwhelming public support to be named Eagles coach in November, but after the failure at the weekend, such backing has dwindled.

The coach himself has worsened his case by saying on a radio interview that he will not work under any coach.

“I don’t want to work under anybody. If the person doesn’t understand me and I don’t understand him, that becomes another problem,” he insisted.

Uche Jombo denies dating African China, Aniyocha

Uche Jombo

Uche Jombo nollywood actress and producer of wave making movie "Damage" has reacted to rumours flying around that she is in a romantic relationship with reggae star, African China A.K.A Chinagorom Onuoha and Nollywood actor, Emeka Aniyocha respectively.

Reacting to the rumour, while speaking on Celebrity Eye, a gist programme on AfricaMagic and anchored by Mercy Johnson-Okojie, Uche claimed that the two entertainers are her friends.

“African China is a very good friend of mine and so also is Emeka Aniyocha. In our industry, when you hangout or dance with someone, you are automatically linked romantically to the person. I have learnt not to allow these things to bother me. They guys are my friends, true. I’m more comfortable in the company my male friends than the ladies and that’s me.”she said.

Uche is one of the busiest Nollywood actresses. She is currently promoting her movie “Damage” with premieres held around major cities in the world.

Baba Suwe excretes, no drug found.

Ace Actor and comedian, Omidina Babatunde a.k.a Baba Suwe now in the custody of the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, over alleged possession of cocaine was said to have made his first self excretion but no drug was found in it.

Disclosing this development to Saturday Vanguard, the Head of Public Affairs, NDLEA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju however said Suwe was still under close observation by the agency to know what actually went wrong.

Baba Suwe was nabbed aboard an Air France aircraft to Paris at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos at about 10pm on Wednesday when he allegedly tested positive to drug ingestion and had been placed under observation since then.

Earlier yesterday, the NDLEA had expressed concern that Suwe who was on his way to attend the naming ceremony of his close friend in Paris had not been able to excrete despite the fact that he was ‘’eating very well and co-operating with narcotic investigators.’’ ‘

’There is reasonable ground for suspicion and the actor is currently under observation. He is fine and had been eating but has not excreted.

‘’We have invited our doctor to examine him. This is crucial to ascertain the true position.

Further up-date on the matter shall be made known to the general public. “.the Agency told Saturday Vanguard, shortly before he ecreted.

NDLEA’s Airport Commander, Alhaji Hamza Umar also confirmed that Suwe was in safe custody even as it was learnt that he was to the act as a compere during the naming ceremony which he missed as a result of his arrest.

Vanguard

Ace actor, Baba Suwe, arrested with cocaine

LAGOS — Nollywood actor and veteran comedian, Alhaji King Babatunde Ayinla Nurudeen Olasunkanmi Omidina, a.k.a. Baba Suwe was arrested Wednesday night, for possession of substances suspected to be cocaine by the officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Baba Suwe was picked up at the International wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos, by the NDLEA officials, while boarding an Air France flight to Paris, France.

NDLEA sources revealed that Baba Suwe was on his way to Paris to act as a master of ceremony in a naming ceremony of an Air France staff scheduled for tomorrow.

Immediately he was arrested, NDLEA source disclosed that the Air France staff was also picked up.

Alhaji King Babatunde Ayinla Nurudeen Olasunkanmi Omidina, a.k.a. Baba Suwe

The scanning machine at the airport detected suspected substance hidden in Baba Suwe’s stomach, but the suspect was alleged to have denied that such drug was on his person.

A second scanning proved that he was carrying the said suspected substance and this led to his immediate arrest. He would remain at the NDLEA office at the airport until he starts excreting the drugs.

A source in the anti-drug agency said the suspect has already excreted some of the drugs he ingested but a large quantity was still lodged in his system as at yesterday. The source said the suspect was therefore given some tea to drink which would enable him excrete the remaining drugs while he has been placed on what he described as observation.

Reacting to the sad news, the National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria(AGN), Mr Segun Arinze described the act as “an embarrassment to the Nigerian motion picture industry.”

“It is a sad development I must tell. If truly he is arrested in connection with drug, he has come to the end of his career. I feel highly disappointed in him”.

“We cannot destroy the image we have built over the years because of the material things of life. We will meet with the executives of the Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners(ANTP) and decide on what to do with him,”Arinze reacted from America.

Also, notable film director and producer, Lancelot Imasuen and president, Association of Movie Producers (AMP) Paul Obazele respectively condemned the act, describing it as “tarnishing and one that will not do the image of the industry any good.”

“We are disappointed, it’s annoying. I’m short of words, Baba Suwe is an icon and everybody looks up to him in the industry’, Paul Obazele said, while adding that “it is not good news at all.”

For Lancelot, “I’m not particularly happy because it will affect all of us who usually travel out of the country on regular basis.”

Popular director of the epic Yoruba film “Aramotu”, Niji Akanni, expressed shock saying; ‘It’s abominable.’ But Yoruba actress Foluke Daramola simply screamed, as she declined to comment on the matter.

Baba Suwe is a very successful and popular Yoruba actor, famous for his comedy roles in Yoruba movies. He is one of the icons in the film industry, having worked with virtually everybody in the industry. He is a recipient of the African Artists and Entertainers Afro-Hollywood award in New York. culled from the Vanguard

Full Transcript Of Prophet T B Joshua Prediction Of Nigeria - Guinea Match

I was just sitting down; God was showing me the game between Nigeria and Guinea next week. How they started it, and how they ended it. But what I saw was not favourable. I said (it) was not favourable. If at this time (stage), we are stopped, it would be very bad. So it was not favourable at all.

Anyone who scores first takes the day. But the game was not favourable. I saw it yesterday. Is it Africa Cup of Nations? Is it next Saturday? I saw it yesterday; I watched it.

The situation, the world, not only Nigeria, the whole world is facing is, ‘Where there is no vision,’ there is no direction. Even when the vision is given, nobody is ready to follow it. Why should all these things happen to us? For many years now, Nigeria normally goes for a game, not to stop at the beginning. Africa , for that matter. Africa Cup of Nations is a small thing. We should be the one to champion them. Why should we be stopped at this (stage)?

But with God, all things are possible. But it is not something I can do alone. That is the problem I have. I cannot do it alone. If I could do it alone, I am lover of football, I would pray and fast to ask God, but it is not possible for me to do it. W must agree and instructions will be given and you follow the instruction.
If you follow the instruction, you will carry the day.

(Congregation clap)

Why are you clapping? Are you the Instructor (that should come for instruction)? I love football so much. That is why, when it is time to play football, I want to know what is happening. I will pray; I want to know…. Where people respect and honour God, ‘What can we do?’ ‘How do we go about it?’ The instruction would be given, ‘Do this, this, this’. You’d get it right.

Rise up (addressing the congregation).

You know your position in Africa. You’re a giant of this Africa. This is Africa Cup. We cannot just enter, we are not even starting the whole thing and we stop at the beginning, it would look very shameful. Come out as a giant. Let’s honour God. Let’s carry God along. Let us play football as if all depends on us and pray as if all depends on God.

Tell you neighbor: Pray, as if all depends on God. Play, as if all depends on you. (demonstrates praying, then playing)

(Congregation laugh)

You people are laughing, so that you will laugh that day. Because I’m seeing, it will be very shameful. But I’m seeing the other side shouting. So, you’re a giant. What is the meaning of giant? What I am saying now is what I’ve seen.

As a man of God, I saw it in a vision. I can not do anything but what can we do? That is it? It is God that showed me; it’s a vision. So don’t think, ‘This man saw it, why can’t he do it?’ No. The thing is not like the way you think it is. That, ‘Didn’t he see it? Why can’t he pray and change it? It is not possible like that. Two of us, must believe to make things happen.

The two of us must what? Believe (congregation respond). To make things what? Happen (congregation respond). To make things happen. We will not be able to do anything on our own without corresponding action.

(when I say) in the name of Jesus, you say what? (congregation reply) Amen That is all!. That is corresponding action.

My , ‘In the name of Jesus’ must come from my heart. Your, ‘Amen’ must also come from your heart.

In the name of Jesus! (Congregation respond) Amen.

That is corresponding action. If yours comes from the heart, so we need to say, ‘Amen’

What is your take on this? opinions please