Lekan Adeyemi (1982) Elected as Vice President of World Chess Federation

The Nigerian Chess Federation (NCF) President, Mr. Lekan Adeyemi, has been elected as the Vice President of world chess body, FIDE.

The elevation was the fall out from the election at the General Assembly of FIDE held on the 6th of October, 2018 in Batumi, Georgia.

Adeyemi’s election was a follow up from the Elective Congress which led to the emergence of Arkardy Dvorkovich; the former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and the President Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia as the FIDE President.

As a Vice President of FIDE, Mr. Adeyemi becomes a member of the Presidential Board, the highest decision making organ on all chess-related matters globally.

He is the highest ranked Nigerian into any elective position in global chess.

Adeyemi is the second African to attain the Vice President status after Lakhdar Mazous from Algeria.

Other members elected on the same platform include; Bachar Kouatly as Deputy President; Sewa Enyonam Fumey as General Secretary; Julio Granda Zuniga as one of the Vice Presidents and Zhu Chen as the Treasurer of the body.

In his post election interview last night, Adeyemi promised to bring to the body his vast experience in sports administration and to help the development of the game in Africa.

“The election is not about Adeyemi but what can we do that will ensure an all-inclusive progress of the sport. I was very prominent in the campaign against the immediate past board and it’s going to be a big burden on me if I fail to fulfill my campaign promises,” he said.

Before he became the NCF boss, he was the coach of University of Ibadan Chess team and later that of the Oyo State team. He brought his wealth of experience to the national team before he rose to become the Head of Technical and Vice President of NCF.

He was the coach of the team that came top in Category E at the World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul in 2012.

Photo Description, L-R

Arkardy Dvorkovich and Lekan Adeyemi (1982), The President and Vice President of World Chess Federation, FIDE, respectively.