From January 27th to February 2nd the Togo Chess community celebrated chess with the Togo Chess Festival 2020 organized by ATOJESTRA (Togo Association of Strategy Games) and FTDE (Togo Chess Federation) in Hotel Agla, Lome. This year’s festival was placed under the blessings of a great friend of Togo: the 6th FIDE President, Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

The program of the festival included different activities, events, and tournaments: a FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar, a FIDE Schools’ Instructors’ Seminar, a Workshop on The Benefits of Chess, a Workshop on Chess as a Tool for National Development, a Rapid Tournament and a Blitz Tournament.

Two seminars were conducted by FT, IO, IA, FIDE Lecturer Bechir Messaoudi from Tunisia and the FIDE General Secretary, President of Togo Chess Federation, FI, IA, CM Enyonam Sewa Fumey.

The workshops were animated by the President of Togo Association of Strategy Games (ATOJESTRA), Mr. Abalou Bodjona and the FIDE General Secretary, President of Togo Chess Federation, FI, IA, CM Enyonam Sewa Fumey.

Two tournaments awarded with the Kirsan’s Cups have been won by IM Balogun Oluwafemi (Nigeria) for the 9 rounds rapid of 25 minutes and IM. Adu Oladapo (Nigeria) for the 9 rounds blitz of 3 min + 2 sec increment. These tournaments were played on electronic boards with live transmission of the first four boards online. The excitement has been great, as this technology was displayed for the first time in this part of the world.

These different activities saw the participation of 48 players from 5 countries (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo).