No fewer than 18 athletes are expected to compete in the chess final competition – Mindgames Premier Championship (MPC), scheduled to hold in August in Lagos.
Lukeman Owolabi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mindgames Incorporated (MGI), organisers of the competition disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday.
He warned that any of the players that qualified for the competition but refused to show up at the grand finale would forfeit his or her spot.
He said that such a player’s spot would be allocated to the next player inline.
Owolabi said that the two spots for the best performing players in the U-20 and U-18 categories are still up for grabs.
He said that preference would be given to the players who were adjudged the most MPC qualifiers.
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“Only clubs that partner with MGI and foreign players are eligible for wildcards at the grand finale coming up in August.
“Under no circumstances will any player outside the group mentioned above be considered for wildcards,’’ Owolabi said.
He said that MGI believed that it would only be fair that only the players who had travelled round the country would claim their spots at the MPC grand finale.
Owolabi, however, said that three qualifiers were held across the country while the grand finale for all qualifiers and international players would hold in August in Lagos.
According to him, the qualifiers were played in Enugu, Port Harcourt and Kano respectively.
(NAN)
