Oyo State Schools Chess Championship: Newspring Schools Emerge Winner

Oyo State Schools Chess Championship: Newspring Schools Emerge Winner By Our Reporter Newspring Group of Schools has emerged the champion of the Oyo State Schools Chess Championship. The first edition of the event which designed for boys and girls ranging from U-7 to U-17 amongst schools in Oyo State was held on Saturday, January 29, 2022 at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, Ibadan saw twenty four schools took part with over 250 students participating. Newspring Group of Schools led the medals table with two gold, three silver and five bronze medals totaling 10 medals, hence, emerging champion with a landslide victory. Dayspring Group of Schools came second with two gold, three silver and one bronze medals while St.Brigids School came third with two gold medals. Speaking at the event, the Chairman Oyo State Chess Association, Iredele Ogunbayo describes chess as life. "Chess means a lot, I don't know if one word or statement can describe what chess means to me. Chess is all about mind development. It's a mind building game and sport and it's always good to start early, he said. Speaking on the objectives of the competition, Iredele said the goal is beyond just catching them young. "Chess has always been a sport that brings the highest number of medals to Oyo State at the National Sports Festival over the last decade or even two decades. The motive is not just to discover talent, the motive is an overall development. "There are so many benefits of playing chess and we want all the young ones to tap from the benefits. Critical thinking, logical reasoning, mental development, concentration and many more. "We want this children to grab all of these at an early age and for those who will like to go ahead and take it as a career, they can go ahead as well, the sky is their limit", he concluded.